


The half-brother

by 67_black_impala



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Bully Sam at first, Dean Winchester and Sam Winchester are Raised Separately, John Winchester beging an asshole at first, M/M, Sam and Dean are half-brothers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-24
Updated: 2018-03-12
Packaged: 2018-06-04 06:06:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 42,743
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6644332
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/67_black_impala/pseuds/67_black_impala
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU: John left when Mary got pregnant with Dean. Few years later he came back with a new family. Now, almost 17 years later, Sam and Dean learn what it means to be brothers.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Update-ed chapter! Huge thanks to lotrspnfangirl for looking this over and making this better. All mistakes are still mine.

Dean Winchester was a normal 16-year-old boy. He lived in a small town with his mom, Mary, in a small apartment over her cafe shop. Well, cafe slash bookstore, if he were to be specific. There were books everywhere in the shop, so many that Dean was sure his mom owned more than the school's library. Not that Dean had ever _gone_ into the school library, but Charlie, biggest nerd on the planet and Dean’s best friend, said the school library was tiny. So it had to be true. She also worked at his mom's shop.

 

On the weekend, he worked at his uncle Bobby's Salvage yard. He would help him in the garage, fixing up cars that came in, and in his spare time he worked on his baby. His baby was a ‘67 Chevy Impala that he found in the back of the yard one day. It was love at first sight and she became his pride and joy.

 

Well, she wasn't his really. There was no way he had enough money to buy her. Knowing Bobby like he did, he knew Bobby would love to just give him the car. But Bobby's garage wasn't doing so well right now; Dean wouldn't want to take a car that Bobby could sell, for free. For now, Dean would just work on getting his baby back in to tip top condition and save enough money to buy her later.

 

At school, Dean did everything imaginable to stay under the radar. He got good grades and behaved well in classes. In his free time, he would find an empty corner somewhere and hang out with his friends.

 

For instance, right now he was sitting under a tree in the school ground with Benny, Charlie, Jo and Ash. The girls were gossiping about the new kids that were supposedly starting the school later this day. Apparently they were related to some popular kids in the school. Dean wasn't really paying attention.

 

“Hey, Winchester! I need to talk to you," someone called from the parking lot. Dean didn't know why he bothered to look up; everyone he talks to at school was sitting next to him. Therefore, he wasn't surprised when he saw Sam Winchester walk past him, talking intently with Alastair, a few minutes later.

 

Sam Winchester was Dean’s half brother. When Mary told his father she was pregnant with Dean, John had been overjoyed. A week later he told her that he was leaving for college and that he would pay for her to have an abortion. Why John suddenly decided he didn't want their kid and to leave for school was a mystery. Needless to say, Mary did not have an abortion; John still left.

 

Ten years ago, John showed back up with his fancy new car, a wife, and a kid. A kid who just happend to be four months younger than Dean. At first, Dean had tried to look out for Sam. He knew from all the books he’d read that big brothers should look out for their little brothers. When other kids were mean to Sam, he would tell them to stop and leave Sam alone.

 

Sam didn't like that. John really, _really_ didn't like that.

 

Apparently, Dean was stopping Sam from making friends. Mary had always told Dean that if people were mean to him than they weren't really his friends. That was why Dean chose Benny, Jo, Charlie and Ash. Sure, they made fun of one another, but they never meant to hurt anybody's feelings.

 

It was quickly established that the brothers didn't get along. Sam seemed to hate that he wasn't John’s only son. Therefore, he hated Dean, and he did everything in his power to make Dean’s life difficult. Since Sam was one of the popular kids, it wasn't all that hard.

 

Dean tried not to let it get to him, but watching Sam live the rich and popular life was hard sometimes. Especially when money was tight at his home. John didn't make it any easier. As far as John was concerned, Dean didn't exist, and he only had one son to support.

 

\- Supernatural - 

 

Today was the last day to sign on to the school's extra curricular classes.

 

Dean hadn't been in a hurry to sign up for the extra gym class, especially since the information board had been surrounded all week. So Dean decided to wait until after school when everyone was gone. He knew he would get in whether he was on top of the list or the bottom. The school coach had been asking him for a while to join any school sports team that he wanted; apparently he was a natural in every sport the school had to offer.

 

Dean was just about to round his last corner to go to the signup sheets when he saw Sam. He was standing in front of the board and had his pen poised over one of the papers there, but he wasn't writing anything.  He just stood there staring at it. Just as Sam was about to write something his phone started ringing and Dean watched him jump slightly before he put the pen down before he searched his jacket for the phone. When he finally found it he looked at the screen and his posture fell. He then quickly looked back between the board and the phone before Dean heard him clear his throat.

 

"Hey, Dad."

 

Dean didn't hear what John was saying on the phone, but he did notice that Sam was looking at his shoes the entire time John was talking.

 

"Yeah, I'm just about to sign up," said Sam as he looked longingly up at the sign-up sheet.

“Yeah, Dad. I will. Bye."

 

Dean watched as Sam put his phone away and picked up his pen again before signing his name. What surprised Dean was that Sam didn't write his name on the sheet he was looking at earlier, but had gone to the one next to it. The younger boy glanced over the sheets one more time before slinging his backpack over his shoulder and starting off down the hall-- thankfully in the opposite direction.

 

Dean made his way over to the board after making sure that Sam was really gone. He was in no mood to deal with him today. He quickly found the list, which happened to be the gym one, that had _Sam Winchester_ on it. No surprise there. What _did_ surprise Dean, however, was what list Sam had been looking at earlier.

 

\- Supernatural - 

 

It was a week later in regularly scheduled gym class, that coach Turner would announce who got in the extra class and who didn't. Dean was in a pretty good mood when he and Benny walked into the gym. His good mood was ruined the moment he saw John talking to coach Turner.  

 

"What the fuck is he doing here, Benny?"

 

"I don't know brother. The Golden boy probably asked him to come," answered Benny. But when Dean looked over at Sam, he looked just as shocked at John being there as everyone else.

 

Before Dean could say anything to Benny, Coach told everybody to sit down and keep their mouths shut.

 

"Now, I have two announcements. First, who got a spot in the extra gym class. As you all know, this list is final. There will be no dropping out or changing classes; if you got into the extra gym class, you have to show up for the extra classes _and_ your regular gym class. The ones not on the list are still required to show up for their regular gym class. Am I clear?"

 

A number of "Hell yes!" from the jocks accompanied by a groan from the nerds could be heard echoing in the large gym space.

 

“Good, now here’s who got on the final list.”

 

Dean wasn’t really paying any attention to what the Coach was saying at this point since he knew he that his name would be last. Having a last name that starts with ‘W’ had its advantages and disadvantages. Instead, he found himself busy watching John who was standing slightly behind the Coach with a smug smile plastered on his face.

 

“--Jo Harvelle--” The name broke through Dean’s subconscious and he looked over, sharing a smile with Benny. They both knew Jo was better than most of the boys in their class and were looking forward to playing with her in the extra class since she was in a different gym class than they were. Dean, unfortunately caught the next name, too. Alastair Heyerdahl. Jo was going to _hate_ having him there. The two of them did not get along.

 

Dean was so busy picturing Jo kicking Alastair’s ass that he almost missed when Coach called out, “Benny Lafitte, Lucier Novak…” Dean high-fived his best friend as he heard Sam and his friend’s congratulating Lucifer, and then Uriel, behind him. Their group got so loud that Coach actually had to stop reading off his list and tell them all to, “Sit your damn asses down and shut up before I make you!”

 

“It’s weird that Uriel got in the class,” Benny whispered, leaning over as silence filled the gym and Coach cleared his throat, adjusting the paper he was reading from. “There are only two spots left now. Coach has to be crazy not to give you one, brother. But as much as I hate to say it? Both Gordon and Sam are ten times better than Uriel... so why is he on he list?” Dean shrugged, not having time to answer as the Coach read out the last names. “Alright, lastly we have Gordon Walker and Dean Winchester."

 

There was a beat of silence and then, "Umm, Coach? I think you forgot to say my name..." Sam called out, almost nervously if Dean didn’t know any better, which stopped John who was getting ready to argue with Coach Turner.

 

"I think you forgot to sign your name to this class boy. I checked! Twice."

 

"But I..."

 

"You wanna take a look for yourself?" Coach Turner snapped as he handed Sam the sign-up sheet. At the bottom of the sheet, where Sam had originally written his name, was now _'Dean Winchester'_ with the most bizarre looking D. Dean saw the recognition come over the side of Sam’s face. He knew the other Winchester realized that underneath the new name had been a Sam. Sam turned and came face to face with his 'brother'.

 

"Oops... did I forget to tell you I took your place? Don't worry though, I put your name on the list next to it. I think it was... literature or something? Nerd." Dean gave his best, nasty sneer, before dragging Benny as far away from his so called brother as he could.

 

Dean could feel the gaze of both Sam and John on the back of his head as he walked away and for a moment, he wondered if Sam knew that Dean had picked the list because he’d seen that was what Sam had wanted… No matter who was closer to him, they both knew John’s idea of what made a ‘strong, successful son’ and being in a club that wasn’t focused on some type of sport? Was not it. Dean also gave Sam an out-- he could blame Dean Winchester, the bad son, for switching his name over. John couldn’t possibly get mad at Sam for that.

 

"I’m sorry John, but this is _final_ ," Coach Turner argued back to whatever John had said to him while Sam had been busy staring at Dean. If he had said it any louder, it would have been heard on the other side of the school... Dean stopped with Benny when they neared the bleachers and turned back around to look at the coach. "Now for my second announcement. I'm going away for two months and the school board has asked John to take over my classes. Everyone say hello to Coach Winchester!"

 

The only thing that went through Dean's mind was, _'Fuck, this is going to be hell.’_

  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Some of you may have figure it out that I got this story idea from One Tree Hill. I make no promises of when I will update this, put hopefully soon.
> 
> For those of you who follow my other story Dean's angel: I just started writting this because I don't know to get my next chapter of Dean's Angel together. I have already written one chapter that I will hopefully post soon but the one after that is being a pain.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Update-ed chapter! Huge thanks to lotrspnfangirl for looking this over and making this better. All mistakes are still mine.

The moment coach Turner dismissed the class, Dean and Benny were in front of the coach in no time. They didn’t even stop to grab their stuff from the lockers.

 

“Coach Turner! You can’t seriously expect me to show up to class where  _ he  _ is in charge. He hates me and I mean HATES me!”

 

“Sorry, boy, but this is final,” said Turner before he looked over to where John was talking to Sam. From the looks of things, it was clear John was not happy. Looking back at Dean, Rufus Turner took a deep breath before saying, “Look, boy, I didn’t know about this until last night. By then I had already turned in the final list to the principal. I talked to my friend, Bobby, last night and he believes you can handle two months. Like he said, and I agree, John can be a thickheaded bastard but he has to behave in front of the class.” 

 

Rufus paused and gave Dean an uncharacteristically friendly smile. “If it makes you feel better, I never would have chosen Winchester over there as my stand-in. I especially wouldn’t have asked you to join if I had known. Now, I really need to go... See you boys when I get back.” 

 

It didn’t really make Dean feel better; he wasn’t sure anything could right now. It didn’t help that when Dean and Benny finished picking up their stuff, John and Sam were waiting for them.

 

“You’re not going to get away with this, boy. I wouldn’t get too comfortable in this class. No one takes my son’s place and gets away with it,” said John, his voice low and dangerous, before storming out the doors. Sam soon followed after him, but not before sending a wicked smile in Dean’s direction.   

 

Dean wondered if John got the irony of what he just said.

  
  


\- Supernatural -

 

_ ‘Great! How am I supposed to survive two months, three times a week, with John fucking Winchester as my teacher?’ _ thought Dean as he and Benny walked out off gym on their way to the cafeteria.

 

“Don’t worry, brotha,” Benny comforted, like he had just read Dean’s mind. “Jo and I will be there with you and we can always report him if he crosses the line.”

 

“Thanks, man,” Dean replied, giving his friend a small smile. He didn’t think Benny could say anything either to make this better, but he appreciated that he tried. Dean’s mind kept going over every scenarios of how this could turn out. He was so deep in his thoughts that he didn’t even notice when he walked into someone. At least, not until he was on his back on the floor, surrounded by books and papers, with a person on top of him. 

 

Dean’s first instinct was to tell this person to watch where the hell they were going and to get the hell off of him. Before he could do that, he locked eyes with the bluest pair he had ever seen. With that, his brain stopped working. Well, his upstairs brain anyway. 

 

When he finally managed to tear his eyes away, he saw that they belonged to the hottest guy Dean had ever seen, despite the fact he was wearing a suit and a trench coat. Who in their right mind wears that to school? Though to be honest, it wasn’t like Dean minded; if possible, they made the guy even hotter. Dean could stare at him for hours and hours. Now all Dean needed was to get him out off those clothes...

 

“Well, this is awkward. We can leave you two alone if you like,” came a voice Dean didn’t recognize from above them. He glanced up and saw a shorter boy standing beside Benny and looking down at them with an amused expression. 

 

_ ‘This has to be the new kids’ _ , thought Dean, since he was pretty sure he would have remembered if he had seen the first boy before. 

 

“Oh! I’m so, so sorry,” the boy on top of Dean sputtered nervously, suddenly seeming to have realized how inappropriate the position they happened to be in was. After getting off him, the guy offered Dean his hand to help him up. “Again, I’m so sorry. I just started here and I was trying to figure out where I was and because of that, I wasn’t paying any attention to where I was going and my name is Castiel Novak.” The blue-eyed hottie blurted everything out without taking a breath. He was also still way too far into Dean’s personal space. 

 

Not that Dean was complaining.

 

“I’m Dean.” And that was it. Even if they only knew each other names, it was enough. As far as Dean was concerned, nothing else mattered. Except... 

 

“Oh! And this is my friend Benny.” Okay, maybe his friends mattered a little. Mostly because Benny kicked him after he had been standing there staring at Castiel for way too long.

 

“Uhh-hu-hmm! You forgot the most important person. I’m his brother, Gabriel. But don’t let me get in the way, just continue eye fucking each other,” the boy who had been with Castiel said. He was helping Benny pick up all the books and papers Castiel had dropped, or at least they were pretending to pick them. Truth be told, Benny and Gabriel were way too busy watching Castiel and Dean, he could  _ feel _ their gazes on him from their crouched position on the floor. Dean felt himself blush as he looked away from Castiel to greet Gabriel with a friendly nod. When he looked back at Castiel, they sent each other a shy smile before they helped the other boys pick everything up. 

 

“I’m sorry to break up this magical moment, but Cassy and I need to go see the principal,” said Gabriel as they all handed Castiel his belongings.

 

“Please stop calling me that, Gabriel!” Castiel gave an exasperated sigh, then turned his attention back to Dean. “Anyway, it was nice meeting you, Dean,” said Castiel as he slowly walked away.

 

“Likewise, Cas,” Dean answered, blushing, without even realizing that he had just called him Cas instead of Castiel.

 

“Nice meeting you, too, Benny. Why, thank you! It was nice meeting you, too, Castiel,” Benny sing-songed from his position beside Gabriel and both of them were trying to contain their laughter. 

 

“Ohh. I’m sorry! It was nice meeting you, too, Benny,” Castiel said quickly and flushed as he tried to look away from Dean to the other boys. “Gabriel, we need to go. Hopefully, I will see you later, Dean.” With that, Castiel and Gabriel walked away.

 

The two boys were hardly out of sight before Benny was laughing his head off. The death stare Dean sent him only made him laugh harder.

  
  


-Supernatural -

  
  


When Dean and Benny got to the cafeteria, they found Charlie, Jo and Ash at their regular table in the back. On the first day of high school, they had all agreed to pick the table as far away from everybody else and it had stuck through the years. If it also happened to be the table farthest away from the popular table-- a.k.a Sam Winchester’s table-- that was purely coincidence.

 

“Hey guys, what took you so long?” asked Charlie when Benny and Dean reached the table and sat down.

 

“Oh, nothing. Dean was just too busy flirting with the new kid,” said Benny smiling before stuffing his face with food.

 

“WHAT?” yelled Charlie and Jo at the same time. They yelled so loudly that the kids on the other side of the room looked up.

 

“Keep your voice down!” Dean hissed as he glared at Benny before deciding to kick him in the foot. Hard. “Besides, I wasn’t flirting. I was just walking and the next thing I know, he’s on top of me.”

 

“Wait! He was on top?” Jo sat back, a strange expression crossing her face. “Huh, I never figured you for a bottom.”

 

“Oh, please, Dean’s totally a bottom!” Charlie shot back.

 

_ Why am I friend with these people? _ thought Dean as the girls talked back and forth and Benny laughed so hard that he had some of the red juice he’d been drinking, leaking out of his mouth. Last but not least was Ash sitting there wondering what the heck was going on.

 

Before the girls could really get into it, the doors of the cafeteria slammed open. In walked the school's golden trio. Sam, Lucifer, and Alistair. 

 

Dean desperately wanted to disappear when the trio bypassed their table and made their way down the cafeteria. It took a second to realize they were walking towards him. He had been in a good mood since the moment he met Cas, and he was determined not to let his brother and his friends ruin it.

 

“Hey, Lose-chester!” called Lucifer right before they reach the table.

 

“Dean, I wanted to let you know,  _ my  _ dad talked Principal Crowley into giving you detention. You know, for switching my name for yours. Since Crowley won't put me back in gym class and I’m stuck in that lame book class because of you,--” Dean wondered if he was the only one that noticed how Sam didn’t seem too upset about it. Or how he kept glancing at his friends while he was talking. “--me and the boys have decided that you get to be on clean up duty after class. Plus, Dad probably has something really special planned for you when he starts teaching. Aren't you lucky, jerk?” finished Sam before they three walked away. 

 

“Care to explain what that's about?” Jo broke the silence when the trio was far enough away.

 

“I may have moved Sam’s name from the gym list to the literature one.” When he saw the look of disapproval on his friend's face, he quickly added, “I think the only reason he signed up for gym was because his dad and friends pressured him into it. I saw him right before he signed up. He was thinking about joining the literature class but his dad called him before he could do it.”

 

“Okay, but why did you have to change it? The guy hates you and he is obviously going to hold it against you,” Benny pointed out.

 

“I don’t know! I just…” _wanted to be a good big brother,_ finished Dean in his head. As fucked up as his family was, Dean still hoped that he and Sam would get along some day. No way in hell was Dean going to tell his friends that. They didn’t like Sam and if he told them this, they would give him the sad, sad look he hated. “I just… wanted to join gym class without having to deal with him all the time.”

 

Dean was pretty sure that Jo and Ash bought that. But from the expression on Benny and Charlie’s faces, he had them no where near fooled. Thankfully, they let it slide. For now at least. 

 

“What did he mean about John teaching?” asked Charlie

 

“You haven’t heard? Coach Turner is going away for two months. John is taking over the gym classes while the coach is away,” answered Benny. Somehow, Dean had kind of forgotten all about John Winchester after he met Cas. Now it was getting harder and harder to hold on to his good mood.

 

Before anyone could say anything, the doors open again and in walked Castiel and Gabriel. 

 

Castiel noticed Dean right away and a smile broke out on both their faces. Unfortunately, before Cas could so much as take one step towards Dean, Lucifer called, “Castiel, Gabriel, over here!”

 

Dean watched as Castiel looked over to Lucifer's table before looking back at him. Castiel sent Dean a shy little smile before following his brother toward the ‘Golden Trio’ table.

 

Dean good mood was officially over.

 

Hadn’t Jo and Charlie been talking about the new kids being related to someone in school? Dean wanted to kick himself for not connecting two and two together when Castiel had said his last name was Novak. Of course, Dean’s crush had to be related to Lucifer Novak. Could this day possibly get any worse? 

 

Of course it could.

 

“Castiel, how come I didn’t know you were starting today? I’m supposed to be your best friend!” The voice carried across the cafeteria and Dean’s stomach plummeted.

 

“Can’t I surprise my best friend, Sam?” came Castiel’s calm voice and Dean’s dream crumbled. The sympathy looks he got from his friends, unfortunately, did not help.

 

Officially the worst day ever.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Hope you liked it :). All feed back is highly appreciated.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so very much sorry for keeping you all waiting! Hopefully this chapter will be worth the wait, since the wonderful lotrspnfangirl has looked it (and past chapters) over and fixed it for me. I don't know what I would do with out her.  
> We made some small changes in the previews chapters, you won't need to read them but I recommend it since they are much better now. The only "big" thing we change is that Jo is now in the extra gym class with the boys. 
> 
> I just want to say "Huge thanks to lotrspnfangirl for helping me and making my stories great!" and all leftover mistakes are mine.
> 
> This chapter has a big spoiler for Cruel Intentions, if you haven't seen it.

“We’re doing this, Jo!  Dean _finally_ met someone he likes. I’m not going to let Sam ruin that,” Charlie huffed out as the two of them walked to math class together. They had discovered out earlier that day that Castiel would be joining the two of them in that class. Therefore, math class was the perfect place to talk to Castiel. If Charlie’s plan was going to work, they needed to talk to Castiel. Without Dean finding out.

 

“Charlie, his best friend is Sam Winchester and he’s related to Lucifer. How can he be someone Dean wants to date? Besides, we don’t even know if this guy is gay or not!” Jo was all for Dean being happy, she just didn’t want to risk Dean getting hurt in the progress.

 

“Oh, he’s gay. Trust me, I could tell from the looks he kept sending Dean. He’s going to fall in love with Dean, because how can he not? And when he sees what a dick Sam is, he will never talk to him again. Problem solved.”

 

Jo really wished she could live in the fantasy land Charlie lived in, it sounded so easy.

 

“Or... maybe Castiel is just pretending to like Dean. I mean, maybe it's like in Cruel Intentions and Sam and Castiel have a bet! Sam probably told Castiel to get Dean to sleep with him and then dump him in front of everyone,” said Jo. Dean would be so pissed if he ever found out that she put him in the female role in that movie...

 

“The guy ends up falling in love and throwing the bet out the window!”

 

“He also dies! Without getting his happily ever after.”

 

“Castiel is not going to die. He’s just going to be an angel, grip Dean tight, and raise him from perdition. Now, back to my plan.” Charlie swung her hair over her shoulder and pinned Jo with a serious stare. “We’re going to invite Castiel to movie night and make sure that they sit together the entire night. When the movie is over, and this is where my genius plan comes together, you suggest we play truth or dare. Just like the good old days, except now you, me, Ash, and Benny will team up against Castiel and Dean. Before the night is over, Dean and Castiel will me making out. They either do it on their own free will or we dare them to. Muh-ha-ha-haa,” Charlie gave out her best evil cackle and Jo rolled her eyes.  

 

Honestly, who ever said Charlie wasn't scary had obviously never met her when she had her mind set on something.

 

“Fine, I will help you but if this all goes to hell, you can’t blame me.”

 

“Great! Now all we need is a code name. How about operation Dean’s-easy-sex-to-intimate-endless-love.”

 

“Dean’s-easy-what?” Yep, Charlie has finally lost it.

 

“Dean’s-easy-sex-to-intimate-endless-love, D.E.S.T.I.E.L for short. Do you get it? Dean, Castiel, Destiel.”  From the smile on Charlie’s face, you could think she just came up with the solution to world's hunger.

 

“How long did it take you to come up with that?”

 

“Way too long! Destiel was a no brainer. Coming up with words that fit was the hard part.”

 

When they reached the classroom, they saw that Castiel was already there. Charlie ran over to get the two seats behind Castiel. Unfortunately, Castiel didn’t even seem to notice her, he was just lost in his own little bubble. After a few failed attempts from Charlie to get his attention,  Jo finally took pity on her and throw a piece of paper at Castiel. The look on Castiel’s face when he turned around was adorable. He looked like a lost little puppy.

 

“Sorry about that but, you’re Castiel, right? You must be! Dean said you were the best looking guy in school.”

 

Aha! Castiel definitely _looked_ more interested when she brought up Dean and what is one little lie if it gets those two together? Without even giving Castiel a chance to answer, Charlie continued, “I’m Charlie and this is Jo. I think you met our friends, Dean and Benny, earlier. The two of us and our friends usually have a movie night at least once a month. Dean suggested we invited you to the one we are having tonight.”

 

Fine, two little lies, but it’s for the greater good. Now Castiel thinks Dean wants him there.

 

“Ohh. I’m sorry, but I promised that I would spend some time with my brother and--”  

 

“Everyone take a seat and take out your books!”

 

 _Ohh, great! Why did teachers always have to have such sucky timing?_ Charlie huffed to herself and tried her best not to glare at the front of the classroom.

 

“Now, since we have a new student joining us today I will go over everything you need to know in this classroom again. First, I’m Missouri Moseley and I will be teaching you in this class. Second, I don’t tolerate any disturbances; you are here to learn, not to talk to your friends. Now, if you could all look at the drawing table…”

 

Charlie wrote down a time and place on a piece of paper before handing it to Castiel. “You can bring him if you like. The more the merrier, right?” whispered Charlie.

 

“Miss Bradbury! What did I just say?” came Missouri's voice over the classroom.

 

Since Missouri kept an eye on both Charlie and Jo for the rest of the class, they didn't have a chance to ask Castiel if he would come to movie night. Their decision to wait until class was over did not work out like they hoped. When the bell finally rang, Castiel was obviously in a hurry since he had already packed his stuff and was out of his chair.

 

"It was nice meeting you and I'll ask if it’s alright if we go to your place tonight instead of what we had planned," said Castiel before he was out the door.

  


\- Supernatural -

  


“Not that you’re not welcome here, but is there a reason why you didn’t go home first like you usually do?” Jo asked Dean as they walked into the Roadhouse.

 

“Is it that obvious that I’m stalling running into my mom?” Jo didn’t even answer that, all she did was raise one eyebrow. “She will take one look at me and know that something is wrong. Then when she founds out that I’m stuck with John as a teacher, she going to get really sad. I can’t stand it when my mom’s sad, Jo.”

 

"You know you can't avoid her forever right?" Jo sighed but Dean never got the time to answer because Ellen walked in from the back. Ellen Harvelle was Jo's mom and the owner of Harvelle's Roadhouse. She was also a good friend of Dean's mom. Best friend, even.  "Hey, mom is it alright if we move movie night into the back room tonight? That way there's enough room for everyone."

 

As soon as Jo said that, she realized that Dean wasn't supposed to know that Castiel might show up. They were so used to movie nights that everyone had their own spot in all of their houses. Dean would definitely question the move… And what do you know.

 

"Since when is your room not big enough for the five of us?" Dean asked, clearly suspicious, at the same time as Ellen said, "Fine, but no dancing on the table again, Dean!"

 

His question forgotten, Dean quickly promised to never dance on top of the tables again.

 

"Just remember to tell Benny that." Ellen didn't  believe him for a second but she decided to let it go for now. Walking in on Dean and Benny last time, dancing to "Shake it off", had definitely put a smile on her face. Besides, she got a great video out of it, not that any of the kids needed to know that.

 

"Great! Thanks, mom!" Jo called out over her shoulder as she dragged Dean in the direction of the back room. The back room of The Roadhouse was often used for private parties or small gatherings. It had a private entrance, a small kitchen area (staff only, but that had never stopped them from using it), and two bathrooms. Because the room was usually used for dance parties, the floor was kept clear of all furniture-- which wasn’t the greatest set up for TV watching.

 

Together, Jo and Dean spent some time setting up a decent, comfortable movie-viewing space. Of course, that turned out to be quite tricky for Jo since Dean didn't know that there might be two more people coming. They had used this room for a movie night a few times before, mostly on holidays and birthdays, and therefore, Dean wanted the usual setup. Ash’s LazyBoy was positioned in the middle of two old and matching loveseats.In the end, the only way to get him to change the set up was by claiming that she and Charlie were sick of always having to practically sit in Dean's and Benny's laps.

 

From the look on his face, she knew Dean got a little bit hurt by that. For years they had always gotten tangled together when they were watching something, it was their thing. No way were any of them sick of it! But as Charlie had put it, in the name of true love, sacrifices have to be made! Or... something like that. Jo punched Dean’s arm playfully as they dragged out another couch and was relieved when his hurt expression turned into one of amusement.

 

Jo and the others (everyone except Dean, of course) had gotten set of rules from Charlie;

number one, two and three: NO talking about Sam or John Winchester!

 

To get Dean a boyfriend, Castiel has to see how lovable Dean is, so Dean must be in a good mood. If Dean is thinking about Sam or John, he’s nowhere near happy-go-lucky.

 

Again, NO TALKING ABOUT SAM OR JOHN.

 

The fourth rule was that Dean and Castiel would have to sit next to each other. Preferably, with no one on their other sides. So, no sitting on the same couch as Dean.

 

The fifth rule was that no one was supposed to impose on Dean and Castiel unless it was extremely necessary. Because of that, someone had to keep Gabriel busy so he wouldn’t get in the way. Since Benny was the only one that had already met him, he got that job.

 

As they placed the final couch, Jo insisting it was for Benny to stretch out on so he wouldn’t take up too much of any one’s space while he tried to get comfortable. She glanced at the couches, knowing there would be enough room for all of them and even if Gabriel took one of the loveseats, since he didn’t know about operation D.E.S.T.I.E.L, Dean would still be able to sit beside Castiel or vice versa.

 

As Dean bitched about how there was way too much space, Jo quickly promised him that this wouldn’t happen every movie night. She and Charlie just wanted some room to stretch their legs for once! They had the space, so why not use it?

 

For the next few hours as they continued to get everything ready, they ended up in one of their usual discussions: When are Ellen and Bobby going to get their heads out off their asses and get together?

 

Bobby and Ellen had been dancing around each other for years and it was obvious to everyone around them that they liked one another. Bobby had even become labeled "the town drunk" because the spent so much time in the bar at The Roadhouse. Of course, everyone who knew them well enough, knew that he was just there for the company and that Ellen wouldn't serve him enough to get him drunk.

 

Dean and his friends had come up with two reasons for why Bobby and Ellen hadn't gotten together yet. The first one was their past loved ones. Bobby's wife had passed away years ago and Ellen's husband had died in a hunting accident when Jo was young. She’d been so young she could hardly remember him. Even though years had passed, both of them were still having trouble letting go and moving forward.

 

The second reason was their "kids", Jo and Dean. Dean, of course, wasn't technically theirs, but Bobby had kind of taken it upon himself to be a father figure to Dean. When John and Bobby had been young, they had been best friends, almost like brothers. They had stayed that way until John walked away from Mary, and in turn Bobby for continuing a friendship with her. Since Bobby had gotten close to Mary when she and John had been dating, he considered her family. And you didn’t walk away from family. He took it upon himself to help her whenever she or Dean needed anything and because of that, Dean figured that Bobby felt like he would let them down somehow if he got together with Ellen.

 

Both Mary and Dean had often hinted to Bobby and Ellen that they should get together, but the pair always shut the thought down.

 

As far as Jo was concerned, she just wanted her mom happy. If Bobby made her happy, she was all for it. She didn't hesitate in letting her mom know that but Ellen would just brush it aside.

 

Dean had just finished putting all the snacks on the table when the rest of the gang showed up.

 

"What's up, bitches?" called Charlie as she walked through the door. "Is everything ready?"

 

"All we need is the movie. I still can't believe Jo doesn't own any of the _Lord of the Rings_ movies!" answered Dean.

 

"I know, right! I would banish her from the gang if we would still have access to the Roadhouse without her," Charlie nodded her head seriously before ducking away from the pillow Jo threw at her. "Lucky for her, I _do_ own all the movies. Both the extended versions and the regular!" she finished as she passed the _Fellowship of the Ring,_ Extended Edition movie to Dean.

 

While Dean had set up the movie, Benny and Ash disappeared into the kitchen to put away some of the drinks they’d brought into the fridge. They returned with a drink for everyone and Ash squinted in the space before saying, "Hey! Why don't we have the usually set..."

 

Before he could finish, Jo stepped on his foot, grateful for the couch in front of them so that Dean couldn't see.

 

"We needed more space, you know, so _everyone_ can get more comfortable," answered Jo, with emphasis on everyone. As smart as Ash could be, he had the tendency to not think things through before saying them aloud. "Now, everyone, sit your ass down and let's watch the movie."  

 

Since they had no idea if Castiel would even show up, they couldn't delay forever without Dean getting suspicious. If he figured out that they invited Castiel, and were in fact waiting for him, Dean was very likely to take off before Castiel even came.

 

They were just barely ten minutes into the movie when there was a knock on the door.

 

"I'll get it!" Charlie jumped up from where she had been laying on the couch, scaring the crap out of Dean in the process (not that he would ever admit that).

 

"Are we expecting someone?" asked Dean and when all of his friends looked away, he added, "What did you guys do now?"

 

Since nobody else was in a hurry to answer Dean, Benny took it upon himself to shrug and say, "The girls invited the new boys."

 

"Hey! It was Charlie's idea, not mine!" Jo exclaimed at the same time Dean called out, "They did what?"

 

"Guys! Behave!" Charlie hissed at them before opening the door. "Hey, boys... what the hell are _you_ doing here?"

 

Because of Charlie's reaction, the rest of the group all sat up to try to see who Charlie was taking to. Realizing what they were trying to do, Charlie made sure to not open the door wide enough for Dean to see that his brother standing there with Castiel and Gabriel.

 

"Umm, I don't understand... you said I could bring them," said a very confused Castiel.

 

 _It's no wonder Dean is this smitten if he has seen that look,_ thought Charlie.

 

"I said you could bring your brother, not..." said Charlie before quickly making sure Dean was still on the other side of the room. "...him!" she said in a low enough voice that Dean wouldn't hear her as she gestured towards Sam.

 

"I'm sorry, do I know you? You look kind of familiar, are we in the same class or something?" Sam asked before a smug smile broke out on his face as he looked her over. "If you like, we could _really_ get to know one another."

 

Being hit on by Sam Winchester was just wrong in so many ways.

 

She must have been in some kind of a shock because she didn't hear the warning from her friends before it was too late. The next thing she knew, Dean was there and was opening the door wider so he could see what was happening.

 

The confused look that had been on Castiel's face melted when he saw Dean. "Hi, Dean!" he said with a smile on his face. Dean almost missed it, too, since he was too busy trying to figure out what his brother was doing there.

 

"Ahh,” Sam nodded and shrugged in Charlie’s direction. “You are one of the geek squad. No wonder I didn't remember you."

 

"Maybe we should just come back another time? We are obviously missing something," came Gabriel's voice from behind Castiel. Dean hadn't even noticed him before now.

 

"No! It's rude to invite someone and then not let them in. Especially when we have already cancelled our plan to be here," Sam said before pushing Castiel ahead of him inside.

 

“Hey! You can’t just barge in here!” calls Jo as she gets right up in Sam’s face. Knowing his friends as well as Dean did, he knew they were all itching to do the same but were holding back because of Castiel and Gabriel.

 

“Sam, maybe Gabriel was right. I think there has been some kind of misunderstanding and we are not welcome here. I think we are too late to catch the movie we had planned. Maybe there something else we can see? Come on, let's just go...” Castiel trailed off and it was obvious that both he and Gabriel were really uncomfortable and had no idea what was going on.

 

Now, Dean was feeling like the biggest asshole on the planet. Not only had Castiel changed his plans just to come here, but he was leaving because he felt unwelcome. Cas would probably hate him now for being an asshole to his friend-- even _if_ it was Sam Winchester-- and never talk to him again. Which was probably exactly  what Sam wanted to happen. Sam would never want to be caught alive hanging out with the ‘geek squad’. Well, two could play that game.

 

“No, please stay. All of you! I mean, you already changed your plans to be here,” Dean forced a smile as he looked at Sam. He had to give his brother some credit for how fast he masked his shocked expression. But Dean still saw it. Now, if only his friends could wipe the shocked looks off of their faces, that would be great. “We just weren’t expecting so many people! But it’s fine, we can make room for all of you.”

 

The smile that had broken out on Cas’ face was worth having to deal with Sam for one movie. At least Dean hoped it was.

 

“Really? Great! What are we watching?” Cas asked as he walked over to Dean.

 

“The Lord of the Rings, we are going to watch the first movie tonight and the second one next time. Hope you don’t mind seeing it again,” answered Dean.

 

“Actually, I have never seen them,” Castiel said, like it was no big deal. How is it possible to not have seen the Lord of the Rings?

 

At least this news seems to have brought all of his friends back to the real world.

 

“You haven’t seen Lord of the Rings? That’s just wrong! _Please_ tell me you have at least seen Star Wars, Harry Potter, and Indiana Jones!” Charlie burst out, like it would actually hurt her if Castiel hadn’t seen them, too.

 

“I’m sorry. I haven’t seen any of them... I have read the books if that helps!” Castiel gave a small smile, clearly embarrassed.

 

“Ha! And you said I was bad. At least I have seen the movies,” called Jo from where she was locking the door.

 

“At least he read the books!” Charlie shot back. “But that is fine. Dean just has to make Castiel watch all the movies with him. Right, Dean?”

 

“If he wants to,” Dean mumbled and he could feel his face get redder and redder. What was even worse, he saw the moment Sam noticed it too.

 

“Dean, can you help me in the kitchen for a moment?” asked Jo before walking into the kitchen without giving him time to answer.

 

“I will help too. The rest of you, just get comfortable, we will be right back!” Charlie dragged Dean into the kitchen. “I’m so, so sorry. Sam wasn’t supposed to come. I would _never_ have invited Castiel if I had known he would bring Sam,” started Charlie as soon as she closed the door.

 

“You don’t have to do this, you know. I can have Mom kick him out if you want,” offered Jo as she got some soda cans out of the fridge for their new guests.

“No. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not thrilled to have him here, and you should have talked to me before you decided to invite people to _our_ night, but it’s too late now and we will just have to try to make the best of this. I will just stay away from Sam as best as I can. Please, try not to make a scene, alright?” When he had gotten both girls to agree, he took a few cans from Jo and added, “Got anything stronger?”

 

“Sorry, Mom always told me that you don’t add alcohol to already heated circumstances.”

 

When they got back to the other room, the others had already sat down. Gabriel and Benny were sitting on the larger, furthest couch with Sam and Cas on the loveseat on the opposite side of Ash’s recliner. Since Dean wanted to be as far away from Sam as possible, that meant sitting in the spot beside Cas was out of the question… Sitting next to Benny it was then!

 

As Dean crossed over the room towards Benny, Castiel must have realized Dean wasn’t going to sit beside him because a sad look, one that Dean hoped to never see again, came over his face. Before Dean could change his mind, Charlie plopped down in the seat beside Cas and Jo plopped down in the seat on the free couch. Dean sighed and sat next to her.

 

To be honest, Dean didn’t really pay any attention to the movie. He was way too busy watching Cas. In his defense, Castiel kept looking at him when Sam wasn’t talking in his ear. Which wasn’t that often anymore since Charlie kept telling Sam to be quiet and watch the movie. If there had been any doubt about Castiel fitting in, it was gone. He was just as much a geek as the rest of them, even more so than Benny and Jo.

 

What surprised Dean the most was that Sam seemed to be one too. At least he could answer all the questions Castiel asked him, both about the film and the books.

  


When there was about an hour left of the movie, they decided to take a bathroom break since both the girls and Castiel needed one. Charlie and Cas went to the bathrooms in the back and Jo ended up going to the staff bathroom at the bar--being the boss' kid had its perks. That left the rest of the boys in front of the TV.

 

Ash had fallen asleep in the middle of the movie, like usual, Benny and Gabriel were talking about who knew what, and not wanting to be stuck with Sam, Dean quickly got and said, “I’m going to get more snacks!” before he headed to the kitchen area.

 

When he got there he tried to find something to bring back with him so it wouldn’t be as obvious that he was hiding out in here.

 

“You like him don’t you?” came Sam’s voice from behind him when he had his head in the cabinet next to the sink. Which of course, ended up with him hitting his head on the top of the cabinet.

 

“Sure, they seem like nice guys. I just met them and so far I have only found two things wrong with them. They are friends with you and are related to Lucifer.”

 

Ignoring the insult, Sam started again, “No, I mean you _like_ Cas.” He paused, but didn’t wait for an answer. “I knew it, you are a faggot! Growing up without a real man around messed you up more than I thought. With a mom like yours, I’m not surprised,” Sam scoffed, glaring down at Dean and shaking his head, “I mean she can’t even get a guy to stay! You should--”

 

“SAM!” Castiel showed up out of nowhere behind Sam and he was far from happy. “I get that you are hurting right now, but you have _no_ right to try tearing other families up just to make yourself feel better! I think we have overstayed our welcome, why don’t you and Gabriel go wait in the car.”

 

When it looked like Sam was about to object, Castiel quickly said, “Sam, just go. Gabriel can you go with him please?” Dean hadn’t even noticed everyone else. Gabriel and all of his friends, except Ash who could sleep through anything, were standing on the other side of the door with worried expressions on their faces.  He wasn’t all that surprised that they had shown up after Cas yelled at Sam...

 

After Sam had stormed out with Gabriel behind him, Castiel turned to Dean’s friends and asked if he could have a moment with Dean alone. Charlie and Benny hesitated a little bit but in the end, they followed the others back to the TV, leaving Castiel and Dean alone in the kitchen.

 

“Look, Cas, it’s fine…” started Dean as he rubbed the sore spot on his head from where he had hit his head.

 

“No! It’s not. I only heard the end of that he was saying and it was not alright,” Castiel argued and Dean could tell that he really meant what he was saying. But how much had Castiel heard? Had he heard about Dean liking him or just that Dean was gay? Maybe he hadn’t even heard that…

 

“How much did you hear?” asked Dean. A part of Dean was nervous about what Castiel would say, even though Cas had said that Sam was wrong.

 

“Just the part about your mom. He didn’t say anything worse did he?” asked Castiel, and Dean was sure that Cas had not bought it when he shocked his head no. Thankfully he let it drop.

“Look, it’s not my place to tell you this but... I think you deserve some explanation why he said that. Just promise me not to say anything to anyone, especially Sam?”

 

Normally Dean wouldn’t be sure he could keep that promise. There was just something about Castiel that had Dean agreeing to it, and meaning it.

 

“His parents are going through a rough spot and Sam is just worried they might get divorced. Apparently, his dad is supposedly still in love with his ex or something... To make matters worse, there is some kid at school who keeps rubbing it in… Why are you laughing? I know he was rude to you but that no reason to…”

 

“No, that’s not why I’m laughing, trust me,” said Dean as he tried to stop laughing since it was upsetting Cas.

 

“Than why are you laughing? I swear if you are going to be a jerk to him, I’ll never talk to you again.”

 

That made it easier to stop laughing, but the thought that John Winchester could still by in love with his mom was just so funny.

 

“John is not in love with his ex, trust me, I know!”

 

“Sorry to burst your bubble but his wife and son seem to think otherwise,” Castiel said defensively.

 

“Well, his other son does not think that and neither does his ex!” Dean was kind of shocked that his friends hadn’t come back after how loud he had gotten.

 

“Other son? What are you talking about? Sam would have told me if he had a brother.” Castiel looked confused. Dean couldn’t tell if he was hurt by the fact that Sam hadn’t told him or if Cas thought that Dean was lying to him.

 

“I guess that is because as far as John and Sam are concerned, I don’t exist,” Dean explained hotly before storming out of the room. “I think it’s best if you just go back to your _best_ friend,” he added as he sat down next to the girls and buried his face in Charlie’s hair as she hugged him. He would do anything to not have to watch Castiel walk out the door.

 

“Dean…” started Castiel who had been right behind him out of the kitchen.

 

“Maybe it’s best if you just go. Just give him some time and from what we heard, you should probably talk to Sam,” said Benny as guided Castiel towards the exit.

 

After Castiel had left, Dean’s friends didn’t try to get him to talk about what had happened. They knew that wasn’t going to happen anytime soon. They all knew that Dean was he kind of person that needed time to work through his feelings before he was ready to talk about them. All they did was make sure that when he was ready, he knew they would be there for him. That what probably the thing Dean love most about his friends, they all knew what each other needed when something came up.

 

They ended up sitting there for a few minutes in silence except for the occasional snore from Ash. They all ended up huddled around Dean, Dean himself in between the girls and Benny sitting down on the floor in front of Jo with his shoulder touching Dean’s knee. That was all he needed to be reminded that they were there for him.

 

At some point, someone had started the movie again. Dean had no idea who did it, but it was a welcomed distraction. When the credits started rolling, Dean was sure that nobody had really been paying attention to the movie anymore. He had been going over the day’s events in his head and his friends had been busy keeping an eye on him. Well, everyone except Ash who was just walking up.

 

Since their guests were nowhere to be seen and the others were all wrapped around Dean, it didn’t take Ash long to put two and two together and figure out that he had missed something. Before he could ask what happened, Jo tilted her head back and whispered that she would tell him later. Jo noticed then that Charlie was looking at her with a guilty look on her face and Jo knew what she was thinking.

 

_Operation D.E.S.T.I.E.L. was really not going as planned._

  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please let me know what you think :)


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's finally here, sorry for the wait.  
> Again, thanks Lotrspnfangirl for all the help.  
> Warning: Some talk about the end of season 6 of The Walking Dead.

When Dean finally made it home that night, it had just passed eleven, and Dean was exhausted.  
All he wanted was to crawl into bed and hopefully when he woke up, this would all be a bad dream. 

All the lights in the house were off except one in the living room. Which could mean two things, either his mom was up waiting for him, or she had already gone to sleep and left one for him knowing he would be home late. 

As Dean walked up to the door to their apartment he couldn’t help wondering what was waiting for him behind it. If he was lucky, he would find a note on the table next to the door that would say, “Left a plate for you in the fridge. Good night, honey!” It would mean that his mom would already be in bed and he could put off talking to her for few more hours. But, as Dean’s luck would have it, he had just opened the door when he heard his mom’s cheerful voice, “Hey, honey! I left some lasagna in the fridge for you!”

Normally that would at least bring a small smile on his face but after the day he had, Dean couldn’t muster the energy to even smile a little bit. 

“Thanks, Mom, but I’m not really hungry. I’m just going to bed,” Dean replied as he put his backpack down to hang up his jacket and take off his shoes.

“What? Dean, are you feeling alright? Because I don’t think I have ever seen you turn down my food other than the time I found you passed out with a fever of 102!” said Mary as she put the book she had been reading down and came over to check his forehead.

“Mom! I’m fine, really.” Dean knew his mom wasn’t buying that, so he decided to tell her a little of the truth in the hope she would let it go. “I just haven’t been having a good day, that’s all.” 

“Did something happened over at Jo’s? Because I talked to Ellen earlier and she said you looked like you had some things on your mind…” Mary paused, turning her head to the side slightly. “But I’m starting to think there’s more than that.”

Dean loved his mom, he really did, but it was times like this that he wished that she couldn’t read him like an open book. Even though Mary would let him go to bed right now without saying anything, Dean knew that his mom wouldn’t sleep well. She would probably be up all night worrying about him and Dean couldn’t do that to her. He also knew that if he started talking to her, he would spill everything. About Cas, about Sam wanting to get back at him, about John’s new teaching position…

“Dean, just tell me what happened,” Mary demanded gently with a concerned look on her face as she dragged him towards the couch and sat him down. Dean didn’t have the energy to fight her. Besides, his mom had always known how to get him to talk. Deep down, Dean knew that telling her would most likely make him feel better, but it didn’t make it any less hard to start.

While taking a deep breath, Dean quickly looked at his mom before looking away again. He decided to start with what was less likely to get her upset. “I met this guy today, that I… kind of liked.” 

With a quick look at his mom, Dean saw how she went from being confused to compassionate. As he looked back down, his mom reached under his cheek and lifted his head so he would look at her. “Dean, I’m sure if he gets to know you, he’ll like you back. And if he’s not gay, you can still be friends. I mean you still talk to Benny even though you had a crush on him when you first met him.”

“That’s not it, Mom. I was pretty sure he might be interested but it’s never going to happened now.” When his mom went back to being confused he quickly added, “The girls invited him to movie night and since he took his best friend with him it didn’t turn out too well.”

“I’m sure it wasn’t that bad. Who did he bring?” asked Mary, trying to be positive like always.

“Sam. His best friend is Sam Winchester.” 

This was far from it being the first time that Sam’s name had put a stop to his mom’s words of wisdom. His mom hated talking about the Winchester’s as much as Dean, if not more. 

After what felt like forever, his mom finally said, “Maybe it’s better that you found out right away, before something happened. Wait!” Mary paused, an eyebrow raised, “ _Did_ something happen tonight? Did Sam do something?”

Dean wondered how much of what happened he should share. Should he tell his mom about Cas’ insane theory about John being still in love with her? Dean quickly decided to leave that for now and just tell her the basis. 

“We-we got into an argument at the end. He’s mad at me for getting him in trouble.” One look at his mom and Dean knew he would have to come clean. “Do you remember, about a week ago, when I told you that we had to sign up for an extra class? I might have taken Sam’s name off the gym sign-up sheet and put it on the literature one.” Even though he knew he might have gone about it the wrong way, Dean was certain he had put Sam on the list he truly wanted to be on and that deep, deep down Sam was happier with this arrangement. 

“Dean Winchester! Why would you do that? I raised you better than that!” scolded Mary disappointingly. 

“I know! I shouldn’t have done that. I just— I saw him looking at the literature sheet and he almost signed up for it! The only reason he didn’t was that John called him. John already messed up my life, I didn’t want him to…” Dean trailed off when he noticed the sad look his mom was sending him. 

“I know you just wanted to help, but Dean, you don’t owe those people anything. It should have been Sam’s decision if he wanted to stand up to John or not, not yours,” Mary chided.

“I know, Mom, I’m sorry! I would take it back if I could, trust me. But John and Sam already talked with the principal about this and, when I asked, Coach Turner said that this was final. Now Sam gets to do something he actually wants to do, meanwhile I’m stuck in gym.”

“I thought you wanted to get in that one. Am I missing something?” asked Mary and Dean got the urge to run to his room and be done with this conversation. 

“Yeah, Coach Turner needed some time off, so the school decided to ask ‘dear old, Dad’ to teach all of Coach’s classes,” replied Dean, his voice so low that Mary almost missed it.

“Did you just say that John is the one who is going to be in charge off all of the athletic programs? There must be something we can do to get you out of that. I can call the school tomor—”

“I don’t think there anything we can do,” interrupted Dean. “I mean, you have met principal Crowley, you can’t reason with him. You’d most likely end up making some kind of deal with Crowley that we couldn’t get out of. Besides, John has been trying to get that job for years. He’s not going to give it up without a fight.” Dean shrugged, looking down at his hands folded in his lap. “It could be worse. I’m only stuck with him for two months, not forever.” 

That was a lie and both Dean and Mary knew it. Even if John wasn’t teaching at Dean’s school, he was always popping up in their lives, no matter how hard they tried to avoid him. 

“Mom, it’s late, its been a very long day and I have to get up early tomorrow. I just want to go to bed and you should, too. You look really tired.”

“You’re right, honey. You go to bed and I will go to bed soon, don’t worry. Do me a favor? Try not worry about John or Sam too much. I’m sure it will be fine and if something happens, just let me know, alright?” Mary said with a smile, only continuing after receiving a quiet, “Yes, Mom,” from Dean. “Now go and get some sleep, honey!” She kissed the top of his head before she took the glass she had been drinking from to the kitchen to clean it.

Dean slowly got up from the couch, grabbed his backpack from where he left it next to the door and made his way to his room. When he got there, he closed his door and leaned against it. For what felt like the first time that day, he had a moment to himself and he had absolutely no energy to walk five more steps to his bed. Sliding down to the floor, Dean pulled out his phone from where he had stored it in his backpack to see that he had five new messages. It didn’t surprise him that most of them were from Charlie. In fact, he was kind of shocked there weren’t more from her. Charlie had the habit off blaming herself for things that weren’t really her fault. 

One time, when they were younger, they had all been at Benny’s for a sleepover. Two hours into the sleepover, Charlie had gotten scared so her parents were asked to come pick her. They never showed up. Turned out that they had gotten into an accident on the way over. Her dad died on the scene but her mom ended up in a coma. Thankfully, Charlie ended up with a good foster family in town, though it never occurred to anyone that Charlie was blaming herself for the accident until she had closed herself off. It took months, but Dean finally got her to come around, got her to listen to him that it was not her fault, and got her talking. Now, whenever Charlie blamed herself for something she turned to Dean and would pour her heart out to him.

>   
>  **11:05 From: My Master a.k.a Charlie**  
>  Are we still on for the Walking Dead night next Sunday? I promise I won’t invite anyone this time.

>   
>  **11:15 From: My Master a.k.a Charlie**  
>  I still think Cas likes you, if that helps.

>   
>  **11:25 From: My Master a.k.a Charlie**  
>  Dean?

>   
>  **11:26 From: Benny the Bloodthirsty!**  
>  Dude! Charlie thinks you hate her now. She trying to get us to planning a flash mob to say we’re sorry. Please do us all a favor and at least answer her.

They’d never been in a situation before where Dean would’ve ‘hated’ Charlie. A part of Dean was quite tempted to let Charlie suffer a bit more, but he knew he could never do that to her or any of his other friends. Since Charlie did not handle it well to being on someone’s bad side, she would probably be up all night talking to the group and trying to find a way to fix it. Before putting Charlie out of her misery, he checked what the last messages said, just in case it was something important.

>   
>  **11:27 From: Unknown**  
>  I’m sorry!

Who could have set him that? All of Dean’s friend’s numbers were programmed into his phone... Hell, Charlie had spent an hour changing all of his phone contacts to their special titles! Changing the names, putting photos, and assigning custom ringtones for everyone. It took him _ages_ to get used to ‘You've Got a Friend in Me’ blaring every time Benny called him instead of ‘Highway to Hell’ like his standard ringtone had been.

The only person that Dean could think of that wasn’t in his phone was Castiel, but he hadn’t even given Cas his number! Of course, there was always the possibility that his friends had told him...

>   
>  **11:40 To: My Master a.k.a Charlie**  
>  Of course we still on for The Walking Dead! Get ready to loose the “Who does Negan kill” bet. 

Ever since season six of The Walking Dead had finished the group had been betting on who Negan killed. Since the only ones in the group to read the comics were Charlie and Dean, they both knew who died in the comics. Charlie was convinced that the show runners would not have it that obvious and would kill Abraham instead. Dean was betting on the victim being Glenn, but at long as it wasn’t Daryl, he would be alright with whoever it was. Besides, he just wanted to watch Jeffrey play Negan. That guy was just perfect for the role.

>   
>  **11:43 To: My Master a.k.a Charlie**  
>  I could never hate you but I still want to see the flash mob.

He could just picture his friends doing a flash mob in the middle of the school; Charlie really enjoying herself, Ash looking royally lost, and Jo and Benny looking pissed off. He knew that Jo and Benny would never, ever, do a flash mob. Never. Not even if it was to propose to someone, let alone to say sorry for something like this.

>   
>  **11:44 To: My Master a.k.a Charlie**  
>  Did you give Castiel my number? 

As Dean waited for a reply, he could hear his mom making her way to her bedroom and closing her door. He knew she would have trouble sleeping tonight because of him, but there wasn’t anything he could think of to fix it. Before he could think anymore about it, his phone light up, signaling a new message.

>   
>  **11:45 From: My Master a.k.a Charlie**  
>  This is why I always talk to you about other people! You don’t go tell people what I just told you. You need to say goodbye to Benny before I kill him tomorrow. 

>   
>  **11:46 From: My Master a.k.a Charlie**  
>  Do you think I’m crazy? I don’t give out your phone number until after you slept with them. 

>   
>  **11:46 To: My Master a.k.a Charlie**  
>  Do you really want me to answer that?

Shaking his head, with a small smile on his face he quickly wrote a message to Benny to let him know that he had talked to Charlie.

>   
>  **11:46 To: Benny the Bloodthirsty!**  
>  Fair warning, Charlie is going to kill you for spoiling the flash mob plan.

>   
>  **11:46 From: Benny the Bloodthirsty!**  
>  I try to help and this is thanks I get. Someone trying to kill me. Think she will forgive me if I say I’m sorry?

>   
>  **11:47 To: Benny the Bloodthirsty!**  
>  Only if you do it with a flash mob.

>   
>  **11:47 From: Benny the Bloodthirsty!**  
>  You’re not my friend anymore!

>   
>  **11:48 To: Benny the Bloodthirsty!**  
>  Think how you’re going to feel when Charlie kills you tomorrow and this will be the last thing you said to me.

>   
>  **11:49 From: Benny the Bloodthirsty!**  
>  I’ll be dead, dumbass! Ha, how that for last worlds!

His friends always knew how to get his mind off of things, even if it was for just a little while. Feeling a little bit better, Dean got up from the floor and made his way over to his bed. After a quick change of clothes, Dean crawled into bed and tried to get some sleep. It took hours but he finally fell asleep in the end. 


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s finally here! Sorry for the wait, I want to say it won’t happen again, but I would probably be lying. 
> 
> Since my wonderful beta a.k.a.[ Lotrspnfangirl](http://archiveofourown.org/users/lotrspnfangirl/pseuds/lotrspnfangirl) is super busy these days, I checked if someone else was willing to help too. [Renversermonmonde](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Renversermonmonde/pseuds/Renversermonmonde) ([Trickstermoose67](http://trickstermoose67.tumblr.com) over att Tumblr) was awesome enough to offered to help, so it’s all thanks to her that you are getting this now, please go thank her for me. She’s has been super helpful and made this much better.  
> Now that I have two betas hopefully it won’t be as long between updates.

Dean's alarm went off at 7 the next day and it took all of his will power not to throw that goddamn thing at the wall. To say that Dean was not a morning person would be an understatement. Twenty minutes later, Dean was no closer to getting out of bed, but he got up when he heard “Dean Winchester, your breakfast is ready, so get your ass out of bed or you’re going to be late to work!”

When he got to the kitchen he was greeted with his favorite breakfast: pancakes with a side of bacon. A sure sign that his mother was trying to make him feel better. Not that his mother never did anything like this without a reason, but normally she wouldn’t have time for it on Saturday mornings. After all, she had to go open up the store before Dean had to go to work.  
“Hey, sleeping beauty! Sit down and eat! Did you sleep well?” asked Mary as she poured orange juice into a glass for Dean and put it next to his plate.

“I slept fine. Thanks, mom.” said Dean as he sat down and began eating his breakfast.

“You’re welcome. Now, I wished I had time to eat with you, but I have to go and get everything ready at the store. I’ll see you tonight, right?” Since Dean had his mouth stuffed full, all she got was a nod from him in answer. “Great! Love you, honey. Bye!”

Dean swallowed his bite just in time to call “Love you too, Mom. Bye!” before the door closed behind her. He finished his breakfast in total silence except the occasional scraping of the cutlery before putting everything away and going back upstairs to get ready.

The first thing he did when he got to his room was to look for his phone. He finally found it on his desk under the pile of clothes he had been wearing the day before. The messages app was still open when he unlocked the phone.  
Dean’s eyes automatically found the message that had to be from Castiel, “I’m sorry!”. What did that mean? Was Cas sorry that he showed up last night? Was Cas sorry because he brought Sam with him? Or was he sorry for what he said?

  
Dean really didn’t know how to answer that, and a part of him didn’t even want to answer. What Castiel had said last night had hurt, even though Castiel had never meant to hurt his feelings. Like hearing how he meant absolutely nothing to the Winchester, that not even Sam's best friend knew he existed. Being friends with someone who was Sam’s friend was never going to work. He really should just cut all ties now, before it would get any harder.

A small part of Dean wanted to know which one of his friends had given Castiel his number, but in the end, it didn’t really matter. I would be easier to just delete the message and pretend he never got it. But when he had open up the deleted option he just couldn't press the button.  
He quickly closed everything in his phone and put it down, before he did something he might regret later. After all, his mom always told him not to make hard decisions when he was either angry or sad.

He had just finished brushing his teeth when the alarm went off on his phone to remind him that he needed to go if he wanted to catch the bus to work. He quickly grabbed his phone and backpack before going downstairs, put his shoes on and grabbed his jacket on the way out the door.

When the bus pulled to a stop at the bus stop closest to Bobby’s Salvage yard, it was still fifteen minutes before he was supposed to show up. He made his way there anyway since he had had a key to the place for years, even before he started working there. When he was younger and his mom had to work late, he had gone to Bobby’s after school. It had become almost like a second home for him. Of course, that was before his mom opened up her own coffee shop and he could hang out there if he wanted. As per usual, he stopped to get the mail for Bobby since Bobby didn’t see the point of walking all the way to get it when Dean was walking past it anyway. Dean sighed when he opened the mailbox and saw the stack of envelopes with red letters on them. For the last few weeks they had been a regular sight for him. He knew Bobby had been struggling lately and it only seemed to be getting worse and of course, it was all thanks to John Winchester. John had opened up his own workshop a few months earlier in the middle of the town and he could offer people deals that Bobby couldn’t afford to offer. The only reason Bobby was still in business was because he had his loyal customers, and the people that didn’t want to do business with John.

There were few in town that didn’t want to do business with John, because of how he treated Mary and Dean. In a small town like this, everyone knew each other and rumors were quick to spread. The tragic love story of John and Mary was no exception. Rumors of their break up had spread like wildfire all over town, back when Mary got pregnant. With that, the town got split into two. You were either on Mary’s side, or John’s. Many didn’t want to believe that the polite and helpful John Winchester they knew could ever do such a thing. That he would never leave a woman to raise their kid alone, like his father had done. Soon there was no denying it however: John had followed in his father’s footsteps and left.  
It didn’t help that before John left, he had been a nice young man that didn’t have much, but when he came back he was a cold, rich businessman who seemed to have it all.

“Hey, Bobby!” called Dean when he opened the door to the garage. The small area that was used as the reception was empty so Dean put his backpack behind the counter and made his way to Bobby’s office. “Bobby, you in here?” he asked when he knocked on the door before opening it without waiting for an answer.

“Huhh… oh hey, Dean. I didn’t hear you, I was too busy trying to get this goddamn thing to work,” said Bobby as he hit the computer screen in front of him.

“You know hitting it doesn’t usually help, right? Here let me, oh and here’s your mail. “ said Dean as he handed over the mail and got to work on the computer. “Now what are you trying to do?”

“The numbers don’t add up! I have done the calculation four times now and I never get the same result,” answered Bobby as he flipped through the mail Dean had just handed him.

"You know you don’t need to do all the calculation yourself if you have put all the information in the document, right?” From the look he got in return it was clear that Bobby had not in fact known that. “Never mind, I will fix it for you,” said Dean before turning to the screen. Without looking up he added in a sarcastic voice, “By the way, thanks for the heads up about John becoming my teacher.”

“Oh crap!” said Bobby before taking a deep breath and looking up at the ceiling, almost like he was praying for help. Looking back at Dean, he took another deep breath before saying, “I thought about telling you. I almost drove over to your house a few times, but if I had told you would you have gone to school? No! If I had told you right away, you would have agonized over going the whole night and probably made yourself sick doing it. Then you would start worrying about going the next day and the one after that. I know you, Dean. It’s better to just rip the bandage off quickly.”

Dean huffed loudly. “It still sucked,” said Dean quietly as he cast a glance at Bobby. Something in that look told Bobby that he was forgiven.

“I know, boy. I know!”

Ten minutes later Dean finished making a spreadsheet in Excel. One where Bobby only needed to put the numbers in and the program would add it all up for him. After saving the spreadsheet for later usages, he showed Bobby how it worked. If Dean knew Bobby well enough, and he did, he would have to show him how it worked a few times before Bobby would get it. Especially since Dean had put all the numbers in simultaneously so there wasn’t anything left for Bobby to practice with this time. The only problem was Bobby’s income was still coming in short and Dean was sure the mail Bobby got today was not going to help.

“Thanks, boy! Sometimes I don’t know that I would do without you.”

“That’s because I’m awesome and you’re welcome, old man,” said Dean with a smirk on his face before heading to the work area.

“Who are you calling old, you idjit? Now go do what I’m paying you for, I can’t think with you standing over me,” called Bobby after him. “Oh yeah, some guy called this morning, he’s bringing his car in around three. He said something about his car making a strange sound. I told him you would take a look at it today.”

“Great, I should be done with pastor Jim’s car by then.” When the clock turned three, Dean had finished fixing Pastor Jim’s car. In fact, he had finished that car before noon and finished everything he could on a mustang had found out back a while ago as well. It was one of the more promising cars Bobby had laying around and he was well on his way of puzzling her together again. Hopefully, he would get it up and running with pieces from the other cars scattered around the yard. That way Bobby could sell it and come out in plus from once. All he needed for the Mustang was to find a working battery that fitted, but he didn’t have the time to go out back to look for one so he went to get his baby instead. Last time when he had been looking for spare parts for the mustang he had found some parts he wanted to replace in the Impala laying around. If he was lucky he would have time to put them in place before his three o'clock showed up or after depending on how long it would take to fix it.

When Dean heard the bell at the reception ring, he wiped his hands on the side of his pants out of habit, before remembering that his mom wouldn’t be all that pleased with the extra dirty laundry. Grabbing the cloth Bobby had brought him last month, he finished cleaning his hands the best he could without washing them and made his way to the reception.

“Hi, sorry for keeping you waiting-- Cas? What--what are you doing here?” Castiel had not been one of the persons Dean expected to see today, but there he was. Looking oddly adorable, wearing the same clothes he had been wearing yesterday, with his head tilted to the side with a thoughtful look on his face.

“Uhh… I have an appointment. I’m not stalking you, I swear. I honestly had no idea you work here."

Without thinking, Dean said the first thing that came to his mind, “Why didn’t you go to John’s place. I’m sure Sam could have gotten you an appointment there.”

“Dean! Could you please not send our customers to the competition,” yelled Bobby from his office.

“Oh grap, sorry Bobby!” called Dean back before facing Castiel again with a sheepish grin on his face. “Sorry, you just caught me off guard. I can get Bobby to look over your car, if you don’t want me to do it.”

“No! You can do it and you have nothing to be sorry about. If anyone is sorry, it’s me. Last night didn’t quite go as I had hoped. If I had known about you and Sam, I never would have brought him last night.”

“You really had no idea? I mean, he or his gang must have said something.”

“No, I swear, I had no idea. Which is weird since Sam and I have been best friends since we were little, we practically grew up toge--, I’m sorry. You probably don’t want to hear that.” Apparently Dean wasn't as good at hiding his feelings as he had hoped. “Look I’m sure he would have told me about you, now that I live here. We just didn’t have a lot of time alone together and that small time we had, he used to tell me all about this literature class that the kid--” Dean saw the wheels in Cas’s head turn and Dean knew he had figured it out, when he found himself in the center of Castiel’s attention. It felt like Castiel could see right through him. But the weird thing was, he didn’t seem angry just curious. “--that you signed him up for.”

“I can exp --”started Dean only to be cut off by Cas.

“Look, maybe we shouldn’t be talking about this, according to everyone else I’m not the best at knowing what I should say and what I shouldn’t sometimes. I’m sure Sam doesn’t want me to tell you everything I know about him.”

“Yeah, I understand. He’s your friend and we are just…” What exactly were they? They hardly knew each other so they couldn't be friends. Classmates, maybe?

“I would like to be your friend too. I know it might be difficult, with me being Sam’s friend but I don’t need Sam’s permission for who I can or can't be friends with. The same goes for you, Sam is my best friend, so I’m not going to stop talking to him if we become friends and I won’t like it if you or your friends are rude to him around me. I know you two won’t suddenly like each other because of me, so all I ask is for you to keep me out of it.”

“I would like to be your friend, but I don’t see how that’s going to work out. Sam and I really won’t get along and I can't see Sam being willing to share you with me.”

“Let me worry about Sam. Can we please just try? Because I’m a pretty good judge of character, and even though I haven’t known you long, I know we’re going to get along.”

“Fine but what do you say we get started on your car, since we charge by the hour.” said Dean with a grin on his face.

“Oh, right! I totally forgot. I have no idea what’s wrong with it. It keeps making some weird noise when I turn the wheels.”

“It’s fine, I’ll find out what is causing it and fix it for you. Why don’t do go and get it and I’ll go open the door, okay?”  
A short while later, Cas’s car came into view as Cas drove into the garage and parked it next to the Impala.

The moment Castiel got out of his car, Dean said: “I don’t think we can be friends,” in a teasing kind of way.

“What! Why not?” said Castiel, totally missing the tone of what Dean said.

“Have you seen your car? I think that sound is the least of your problems because I can fix that, everything else with your car is a lost cause. I won’t be able to let other people see me near it. They might think you’re my pimp or something,” answered Dean unable to keep himself from laughing.

Finally catching on that Dean was just joking, Castiel put on the saddest look he could muster and said “I like it, so I guess you’re just going to have to walk if we are ever going somewhere,” before handing over the keys.

“I think I might know what’s wrong with it. It’s probably just the--”

“You don’t need to tell me, all I need to know is if you can fix it,” interrupted Castiel.

“Of course I can fix it. If I’m right about what it is, it will take me an hour, two tops, to fix it for you. If you want you can wait here, or we can call you when I’m done.”

“I wish I could stay but I have to go meet my brother downtown. Oh and to answer your earlier question on why I didn’t go to John’s place, Sam is mad at me right now so I didn’t want to go there just yet. I was going to wait but Gabriel kept on telling me to come he-- I’m starting to think he might have known you worked here.”

“It wouldn’t surprise me if Benny told him that last night. You’re lucky I needed a new friend, instead of my old ones,” joked Dean.

“I’m glad he did, so don’t be too mad at them, they were only trying to be friendly,” said Castiel as he looked at his watch before slowly starting to walk backwards towards the door. “I’m sorry, I really need to go if I want to catch the bus.”

“Oh yeah. See you later, Cas.”

“Bye Dean,” and with that Castiel was gone. Since Dean was now all alone and he knew Bobby would keep an eye on the reception, he put an AC/DC cassette on in the Impala, cracked up the volume and went to work on Cas’s car.

I took Dean a little more than an hour to fix the car. It appeared that Bobby had a sixth sense or something, since he had come in right before Dean was done and asked if he should call the owner and let him know the car was ready.

Five minutes before closing, Dean’s feets could be seen sticking out from under his beloved car when Castiel and Bobby walked in.

“It was a pleasure doing business with you, Mr. Singer,” Dean heard Cas say and before Bobby could even reply he continued, “Is that an Impala? I always wanted to see one! Who owns it?”

While Dean came from under the car Bobby managed in between laughing to answer that even though Dean didn’t own it _yet_ , it was his in all the way it matters. “I believe the two of you are going to get along just fine,” he said before leaving them alone.

“I... umm... I didn’t realize they were so big!” said Castiel in awe, that Dean could tell was fake, and Dean couldn't help but laugh. ”And... and it’s so shiny! You obviously take good care of it.”

“Thanks, man!” said Dean as he handed over the keys to Cas’s car. “Everything should be alright now, but if you notice anything wrong just let me know and I will take another look.”

“Great! I'm heading back to town if you want a ride,” offered Cas.

“Realy? Great! Thanks, let me just clean up and let Bobby know I’m leaving first.”

After doing just that, Dean put his stuff in the backseat and went to open the garage door so Castiel could back out. When Cas was backed the car safely out of the garage Dean quickly ran to the other side of the room and turned off the light, before closing the door and getting into Cas’s car.

“So where am I heading?” asked Castiel when Dean had made himself comfortable.

“Do you know where ‘The Legacy’ is?”

“You mean the bookstore? It was the first place I went to after I moved here. I love it, it really makes me feel at home. I also like how the owner added a little coffee shop in there, not many bookstores do that. Why? You live near it?”

“That’s because it is a coffee shop. The books are just _extra_ , at least that is what my mom keeps telling me.” At Castiel’s confused looked, Dean quickly explained, “It’s my mom’s shop, we live above it.”

The two of them talked the whole way to Dean’s house. Dean would talk about cars and Castiel would talk about bees, that for some reason he was strangely fascinated by. They talked about everything from school, to work and to friends. Everything except Sam.

Right before they arrived at Dean’s house, Castiel interrupted Dean, who had been telling Castiel about which teachers were fun and which weren’t. “Dean I have a confession to make. I know nothing about cars. The only reason I said something about the Impala, is because Jo told me that if I wanted to get you to like me, that was the easiest way. I’m sorry, I tried to trick you.”

“Cas. I knew. Baby was in the garage when you came in with your car. Nobody that knows something about cool cars, walks past her without saying something.“ said Dean laughing.

“What? Why didn’t you say anything?” asked Castiel shocked.

“Because it was fun watching you try to find something to say about her. Plus, it was nice to hear someone other than me talk about her that way. I talk so much about her that the gang made a rule that I could only talk about her for a straight hour every day, or I would have to paint the girl’s nails or something like that. They stopped trying to time me after a month.”

“That’s so unfair of them! Why shouldn’t you get to talk about what makes you happy?” Castiel sounded so disappointed.

“It’s not that bad, trust me. Besides, we have a rule like that for everybody. Charlie can’t talk about geek stuff for more than 3 hours, Jo can’t talk about bar fights, Ash can’t talk computer stuff and Benny can’t talk about pirate movies for more than two hours. That is, unless the rest of us that have to listen to it get something out of it. Fair warning, you’re most likely going to get one about bees.”

“I don’t talk that much about bees. It just that they are so smart, and we--” With that Dean started laughing again. “Ohh, I’m sorry. Maybe I do talk about them a lot.”

“It’s alright, I like it!” When Cas had pulled to a stop in front of the house, Dean got his stuff and got out, but before he closed the door, he turned back to Castiel. “Thanks for the ride and for trying to show interested.”

“You’re welcome, Dean. I will see you later,” said Cas before driving away.

The coffee shop was almost empty when Dean walked in. Which wasn’t unexpected, since it was almost closing time. In fact, the only customer in the store was Mrs Tran and Mary was finishing putting together her to-go order. “Hey, honey! Could you turn the closing sign for me?” said Mary when she looked up to see who had just come in.

“Hey, Mom! Hey, Mrs. Tran! How is Kevin doing?” said Dean back as he turned to flip the sign.

“Ohh, you know, he’s still trying to get into Princeton, so all I do these days is remind him to eat and sleep.”

“So he’s the same he has been for the last few years, got it,” answered Dean with a smile as he put his stuff on the nearest table. “Hey Mom, is Charlie still here?”

“Yeah. She’s cleaning up in the back,” said Mary before she turned her attention back to Mrs. Tran and her order and Dean made his way to the back.

“Hey, Charlie! Have you killed Benny yet?” said Dean when he find her putting some books back in the shelves.

“Yeah, I killed him when he came by earlier. I even took a picture to prove it.” said Charlie as she dug up her phone to find the picture. When she found what she was looking for, she handed Dean the phone. On the phone were three photos of Benny in different positions. All with what looked like tomato sauce all over his face. In one of them, he was sitting hunched over in a booth and they had made it look like his head was on the dinner plate. In the next one, he was hunched over the back of the seat. He was lying on top of the table with Charlie holding his head up by the hair in the last one. “Then your mom told me to get rid of the body, because it was getting too messy and some customers had just walked in. But don’t worry, I’m sure Benny will haunt us for the rest of our lives.”

“He’s totally gonna do that, isn’t he?” Dean said as he handed her phone back before he started helping Charlie putting everything where it belonged.

“Yepp! Hey! I forgot to ask you last night, why did you think I gave Cas your number?”

“It doesn’t really matter any more, but I got a message last night from an unknown number saying he was sorry. But Cas came to the garage today and we worked things out.” When he noticed the look that Charlie was giving him after that, he quickly added, “Don’t give me that look! Please don’t make a big deal out of this!”

“I would never!” said Charlie offended.

“Sure you wouldn’t,” said Dean as he picked up a stack of dirty dishes and made his way into the kitchen area. It wasn’t the biggest kitchen in the world. It was barely big enough for three to be working there at the same time. Thankfully, it was only his mom and Charlie that worked there on a regular basis. Dean tried to help as much as he could, but between school, homework, hanging out with his friends and his work at Bobby’s, he didn't have much time. The few times they had extra help, which was mostly around the holidays, they had somehow made it work.

Dean quickly loaded the dishes into the dishwasher, before closing it and putting it on a short cleaning program.  
His phone pinged from one of his pockets as he went back to join Charlie. Somehow, he wasn’t surprised at what he saw on it when he had dug it up.  
  


> **19:06 Charlie to THE GANG**  
>  Guess who came and visited Dean at work. I will give you a hint: Castiel and Dean sitting in a tree...

> **19:07 Jo to THE GANG**  
>  I know that, I met Castiel and his brother earlier.

   
Dean leaned up against the nearest wall and typed what he wanted to say on his phone. When he was sure Charlie was watching him, he made a show of hitting a button on his phone. After that, he crossed his arms and raised one eyebrow towards her with a cocky smile on his face. Two seconds later her phone pinged. When Dean looked down again, Ash and Benny had already replied to his message.  
 

> **19:09 Dean to THE GANG**  
>  Hey Benny! I know you’re dead and all that but lets say I wanted to revenge your tragic death, do you know any good ways to kill someone?

> **19:10 Ash to THE GANG**  
>  What Benny’s dead? Who killed him and more importantly when?

> **19:10 Benny to THE GANG**  
>  Why does it matter when she did it? Charlie killed me because I told Dean all of her darkest secrets.

  
‘Payback is a bitch, Charlie’ thought Dean as he picked in his reply.  
 

> **19:11 Dean to THE GANG**  
>  You didn’t need to kill him just because he told me that you secretly liked Twilight all along.

   
From across the room Dean could hear Charlie gasp when she read that. All of them knew Charlie hated those movies. To her it was the biggest disrespect to vampires she had ever seen. Most of the time she if she wanted to know if something was good or bad she would ask, on the scale 10-to-Twilight how bad was it. Dean knew she would never let that go unanswered, and she didn’t disappoint.  
 

> **19:13 Charlie to THE GANG**  
>  You take that back right now Dean Winchester or I swear I will kill you and I won’t use tomato sauce to do it this time!.

   
Dean looked up from his phone when he could feel Charlie staring at him. If looks could kill, then Dean was sure he would be on his way to the great beyond right about now.  
 

> **19:14 Jo to THE GANG**  
>  Dean, if Charlie kills you can I have your music collection.

> **19:14 Charlie to THE GANG**  
>  What? NO! If anyone is getting it, it should be me!

   
Dean wondered if he had succeeded in making every one forget about Charlie’s messages, but if he knew his friends they were just having fun right now and when he met them in school on Monday he’d never hear the end of it. But that was Monday's problem, right now, all he wanted was to joke around with his friends.  
 

> **19:16 Dean to THE GANG**  
>  None of you are going to get it, I want it buried with me, so I can listen to ‘Highway to hell’ on my way to the afterlife.

   
“Are you two just going to stand around on your phones all day? Or do you want to go home any time soon?” asked Mary from the other side of the room where she was cleaning the counter.

Dean felt like he had just been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. He quickly put his phone down before he started putting the chairs on top of the tables, so it would be easier to clean the floors later. “Sorry, Mom!” he called back at the same time as Charlie said, “Sorry Mary! It’s all Dean's fault.”

“What? No it’s not!”

“Is too!”

“Are the two of you five?” called Mary with a smile on her face. Charlie and Dean sent Mary their most innocent smile as they went to work.  
Not two minutes later, Dean’s phone pinged again. He quickly checked if his mom was looking and stole a peek at his phone.  
 

> **19:19 Charlie to THE GANG**  
>  Dean, I’m going to give you to the count of 3 to take that Twilight crap back or, I don’t know, I might tell them about that thing that happened in fourth grade.

> **19:19 Charlie to THE GANG**  
>  ONE! 

  
Whoever said that Charlie was sweet and innocent, did _not_ know her! All his life, Dean had never typed as fast as he did his next text.  
 

> **19:20 Dean to THE GANG**  
>  I’m sorry!!!!! Charlie hates the Twilight movies!

   
Almost at the same time as he sent his messages, Ash and Benny sent one too.  
  


> **19:21 Ash to THE GANG**  
>  What happened in fourth grade?

> **19:22 Benny to THE GANG**  
>  You can’t say stuff like that and then not tell us about it!

   
In all honesty, Dean had no idea what Charlie was referring to, but he had seen her dig up stuff that shouldn’t be possible so he was not about to take the chance that she had some dirt on him.  
 

> **19:23 Dean to THE GANG**  
>  I have no idea what happened, but Charlie can probably find proof that something happened. Better safe than sorry.

> **19:24 Charlie to THE GANG**  
>  Nothing happened! Do you guys really believe that if I had something on him that I wouldn’t have used it already?

   
“I think the two of you are done. Just go home already,” said Mary with a fond smile.  
 

> **19:25 Charlie to THE GANG**  
>  I’m off to kill Dean, since his mom just kicked us out. Later bitches.

   
When Mary came upstair twenty minutes later, she found the two of them in front of the tv having a heated, but playful, disagreement on which one was better the Marvel universe or the DC universe. Since Mary knew from experience that this could go on for hours, she decided to go make some popcorn and go enjoy the show.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you think, all kudos and comments are loved!


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A big thank you to both [ Lotrspnfangirl](http://archiveofourown.org/users/lotrspnfangirl/pseuds/lotrspnfangirl) and [Renversermonmonde](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Renversermonmonde/pseuds/Renversermonmonde) ([Trickstermoose67](http://trickstermoose67.tumblr.com) over att Tumblr) for spending their time on going over the chapter for me. They both bring different things to the story, which makes it so much better!

“I hate my life!” 

Dean was not in a good mood by noon on Tuesday when he sat down at the end the cafeteria table next to Benny. All of his friends were already there, except for Ash -- though that was nothing new. He was probably sleeping in a corner somewhere.

Ever since he showed up to school after the weekend, Sam’s friends had been making his life hell. Stealing his stuff, disturbing the class and then blaming him for it, and pushing him around -- into lockers, doorways, the girl’s bathroom -- when no one was looking.

The worst thing was probably the fact that Sam must have told everyone he knew about Dean being gay. For the last day and a half, Dean must have been called every name in the book. Of course he had been called that in the past, too, but it was worse now. Before, they had just said it to make fun of him. Now, however? Now they meant it. 

Dean had been able to keep that little fact about himself a secret from Sam ever since he came out to his friends, but no, one evening with Sam and now the entire school knew. Of course, Sam had had no trouble convincing Castiel that he had nothing to do with the rumors and that he was just hearing them for the first time, too.

Apparently, Sam and Cas had worked out whatever it was that had been going on between them and were now spending every waking hour together. And Sam was not taking the fact that he had to share Castiel well. 

Before Dean could even reach the school on Monday morning, The Golden Trio had gotten in his way. Lucifer and Alistair quickly got a hold on Dean that he couldn’t get out off and dragged him behind a work shed that was on the school grounds. Sam followed behind looking like he was on top of the world. After Dean had received a few well placed punches in the stomach from Alistair, Sam told him to stay away from his best friend or he would make Dean regret it. Then Sam turned around and walked away. 

Alistair hit Dean one more time, just for good measure, before Lucifer dropped him and the two followed after Sam. That punch had been so hard that Dean had a hard time catching his breath afterwards. He’s woken up with a bruise the size of Texas along his right side and pain every time he inhaled deeply.

As he sat down, Dean tried his best to hide that he was hurt, but he had a feeling that Charlie had seen right through him. 

“Why? What happened now? Do we need to go kick some ass for you?” asked Jo as she played with a plastic knife from the cafeteria.

“Lets see, you know how when I showed up to school yesterday someone had broken the lock on my locker so I couldn’t get it open?” There were collective nods around the table so he continued, “I found out that my essay I’d left in there was due today and now it’s missing! Because I was looking for it, I was five minutes late to Mr. Roman’s class, so he tore me a new one in front of everyone. Of course he didn’t believe that my essay had been stolen, but because I told him he could ask the office about my locker, he agreed to give me until tomorrow to turn in my essay. It took me a week to write it the first time!” He sighed, frustrated, before banging his head on the table.

“I can help you rewrite it, if you want,” offered Charlie as she ran her fingers through his hair. “Besides, it’s always easier to write it the second time.”

“Thanks, Charlie. I have an hour detention after school today, but after that I’m free whenever.”

“Great, I will wait for you in the library,” Charlie said before greeting someone behind Dean. When Dean turned around to look who Charlie was talking to, he saw Castiel standing with his food tray. 

“Hi! You mind if I join you guys while I wait for Sam to show up?” asked Castiel.

“Sure, take a seat,” Benny replied as he moved over to make room for Castiel in between himself and Dean, even though there had more than enough space everywhere else. 

“Hey, Cas,” Dean greeted in a low voice.

Dean hadn’t really talked to Castiel since Castiel gave him a ride home. In fact, he’d done everything in his power to not run into Cas. Sure, whenever Dean had seen Cas smiling at him in the hallway, he had smiled back, or when Cas greeted him, he would say ‘Hi’ before taking the first turn he could, even if it took him twice as long to take that way. He wasn’t trying to be rude. Mostly he did it because whenever he saw Castiel, Sam was next to him, and he was still recovering from yesterday’s beat down. 

“Hi, Dean. How are you? I’ve hardly seen you since Saturday,” said Castiel with what Dean would have described as a disappointed look on his face.

“Yeah, I know. I have just been really busy.” Dean gave him a small smile and then cleared his throat. “In fact I need to go,” he said as he started gathering his stuff before standing up. “See you later!” 

He was five steps away from the table when Castiel said, “You sure? That’s too bad… Oh well, more pie for us then.” Dean turned to see him digging through his backpack.

“Pie? Why do you have pie?” asked Dean as he walked slowly back towards the table as if the pie would disappear if he went too fast.

Dean noticed that Castiel sent Charlie a slightly panicked look before saying, “Yeah, Gabriel and I were talking to Charlie yesterday and she mentioned you liked pie. Gabriel is always experimenting in the kitchen, so he offered to make one. He ended up making five before he was convinced he had made the best pie in the whole world.”

_‘Damn, you Charlie Bradbury!’_ thought Dean as he glared at Charlie.

“So I told him you would come running if he brought pie. What was I supposed to do? He thought you were avoiding him!” Charlie defended herself. With an eyebrow raised she added, “But of course you’re only avoiding Sam, right?”

“I hate you,” said Dean as he sat down and snatched the plate Castiel had just put in front of Charlie before she could take a bite.

“Hey! That one was mine!” 

“Guys, there is enough for everybody! Didn’t you need to leave?” asked Castiel with laughter in his voice as he put the last piece on a plate for Charlie.

“It can wait!” said Dean. _‘Specially since I had nowhere to be,’_ he thought to himself. When Dean noticed there was no pie left and all of his other friends were too busy stuffing their faces, he said, “That was the last piece! Aren't you going to have any?”

“No, I don’t like pie!” The silence that followed was deafening as everybody at the table looked at Castiel, some with forks mid-way to their mouths, like he was from another planet.

Jo was the first to break the silence. “You _don’t_ like _pie_?” 

“It’s official, we can’t be friends anymore, Castiel!” said Dean still in shock. _‘How can he not like pie? Pie is the greatest food on the planet!’_

“Why? Because I won’t eat the pie which means you get _more_ pie?” asked Castiel with his head tilted to the side as he looked into Dean’s eyes. It was almost like he could find out how Dean’s mind worked if the looked hard enough. 

“Huhh, I didn’t think about that,” said Dean before rolling that thought in his head. After thinking it through for a little while, Dean turned to his friends and said, “I can’t be friends with you guys anymore. You always eat my pie," before finally starting on his slice.

Dean almost melted when he tasted the pie. It was by far the best pie he had ever tasted! If the sounds he was making were the same as the sound from his favorite porn film, then he didn’t give a flying fuck. His bad mood was gone and as far as Dean was concerned, the only thing that mattered right now was finishing his slice, then finding Gabriel and marrying him. It took Dean a little time to realize that everybody at the table had stopped what they had been doing and were now laughing at him.

Before Dean could tell them to shut the hell up, “Castiel!” was heard called out over the room. Dean, Castiel, and Benny all had to turn around to see Sam standing on the other side of the room and he did not look happy. 

“I guess this is my cue to leave,” Castiel said and Dean wondered if there was really disappointment in his voice or if he imagined it. “I hope you enjoyed the pie. Bye!” And with that, Castiel was gone. He had gone over to the dark side, as Charlie would put it. 

For the next half an hour, Dean could feel Sam staring at him every time Castiel wasn’t looking.

\- Supernatural -

“We should just go, I mean they probably won’t even notice we’re missing.”

“Suck it up, Winchester. We’re going!” said Jo as she dragged him towards the changing rooms.

“In all the time I’ve known you, brother, I have never seen you run away from anything,” said Benny as he walked behind them. “Don’t start now.”

“It’s not running away if I never show up!” Dean muttered his argument, resisting the urge to roll his eyes. He had been dreading this moment ever since he found out that John would be taking over the class. 

“Sorry dude, you’re going. Now if we hurry, we can be ready before the others show up. See you in a few Jo!” With that, Benny took hold of Dean’s shoulder and steered him towards the boy’s changing room while Jo went to the girl’s.

Dean had just finished getting changed into his gym t-shirt and shorts when he heard Uriel say, “Hey Losechester, we don’t like fags in our changing room.” 

Of course, all the other boys except for Benny cheered him on.

Dean had had just about enough of their crap, but before he could tell them to stick it where the sun don’t shine, Benny dragged him away.

“It's not worth getting another detention for. Just try to ignore them,” said Benny.

“Do you think I can talk Principal Crowley into letting me change in the girls changing room from now on? Jo is the only girl in class and I know she wouldn’t mind me being there,” asked Dean.

“And leave me all alone with them? You would have to take me with you. Jo can just blindfold me,” Benny joked before getting serious again, “ No, somehow I don’t think he will allow that.”

Benny patted Dean on the back and both boys took a deep breath before walking through the doors into the gym. Thankfully, it was still empty, so they went and found a seat on the benches while they waited for class to begin. Jo joined them five minutes later and then the rest of the class came in one by one. The last ones to show up were Alistair and Lucifer, who made a beeline towards Dean the moment they located him. He didn’t know if he was relieved or not when they stopped halfway because John had just showed up.

“Attention everyone! Today, I want you all to prove to me that you really belong in this class.” Dean tried not to grimace at the rough tone John used or let it show that the man’s voice made his stomach clench. “I believe some people are more deserving to be here than others.”

“Gee, I wonder who he’s talking about,” whispered Benny and Jo and Dean couldn't help but chuckle. 

“Something funny, you three?” asked John, storming over to the benches as he got in their faces. For some reason he didn’t seem to notice Lucifer fooling around at the same time. “Ten laps around the gym. Now!”

John talked the entire time while they ran the laps. Dean didn’t catch everything John said, but at times, he couldn’t help but think that John was talking about him and his friends. Every now and then the whole class would start watching them and start laughing. Thankfully, Dean quickly found a way to distract himself by counting how often his friends told him to ‘let it go’ or something along those lines. 

On the fourth lap Jo was at seven and Benny was at twenty-two. If this kept happening then Benny really should just save himself the trouble and give Dean an iPod with ‘Let it Go’ from Frozen playing on repeat. Come to think of it, Charlie could probably find a rock version or something for him. Not that Dean was ever going to suggest that.

Since Dean still wasn’t feeling 100% after the beating he got the day before, he didn’t run as fast as he could. Normally, Dean was a pretty fast runner and had the stamina to run for a long time if he felt like it or needed to. Dean knew for a fact that he could outrun everyone in this class on a good day, most of them even on a bad day. But today, he mostly just stayed with Benny and Jo. Both of them were pretty good runners, especially Jo, so he knew she was slowing down a little bit for him and Benny to keep up. 

Of course, even though the three of them were running faster than Dean knew some of the boys in the class could run, it wasn’t good enough for John. Every time they finished a lap, John would tell them to run faster, that his ‘grandmother could run faster than that’. 

“Jo twelve, Benny forty-five,” Dean said his count out loud when they had one fourth of a lap left. 

“What was that?” asked Jo.

“Nothing. Just let it go,” said Dean in a singsong voice with a small smile on his face before picking up the speed so he was in front of them for the first time.

Benny slowly leaned towards Jo and asked, “Do you think he finally lost it and will start bursting into songs now?” in as low voice of a voice as he could while still running.

“I don’t know, but I’m taking a video camera with me tomorrow just in case,” answered Jo without even trying to keep her voice low. It wasn’t the reaction that Dean wanted, but it didn’t surprise him that all his friends did was laugh when he gave them the finger.

When they finished the lap, John was finishing telling the rest of the class that they would be playing basketball for the remaining time. Dean wasn’t surprised when John picked Lucifer and Alastair as team captains and told them to pick six people each for their teams. 

It also wasn’t surprising that Dean, Jo, and Benny were the last three to be picked. Since Alastair had gotten to pick first, Lucifer ended up having to choose two of the three of them for his team. To say that he was not happy with that would be an understatement. Especially since he knew that he would end up with Dean. 

Lucifer looked over the three of them like they were all beneath him, contemplating with a grimace on his face. After a few minutes and a “Hurry it up, we don’t have all day!” from John, Lucifer crossed his arms before he spat out, “I’ll take the chick!” He turned to the rest of his team, his back to Benny and Dean. As everybody knew would happen, Alastair called for Benny right after Lucifer picked Jo. The three of them exchanged glances, knowing Lucifer wouldn’t call Dean’s name even if he was paid. 

Now that the two teams were ready, each captain walked over to their side of the gym and started giving out positions for everyone. Benny took his time going over to his end and made it clear he wasn’t all that happy with having to be ‘alone’ on the other team. “Think anyone will notice if we just stand in one corner the whole time?”

“Maybe the two of you could have gotten away with it, but I have a feeling I won't and I’m probably going to drag the two of you down with me,” answered Dean while watching John who was busy going over something on his board. Before any of them could say something more, John looked up and noticed them.

“What the hell are you people waiting for? Go over to your teams!” 

After sending Benny a ‘I told you so’ look, Jo and Dean made their way over to their team and Benny did the same. Jo and Dean were in no hurry when they made their way over. Dean’s other teammates were all huddled together and when Dean came closer he heard Lucifer say “...just follow the plan and do as Sam said,” before the group broke up. All Lucifer said to Dean and Jo before the game started was to ‘stay out of their way’ and ‘don’t fuck up’. 

It became quite clear early on in the game that the other boys in the class were more interested in getting Dean in trouble then they were in winning. The only time Dean even came close to getting the ball was after Jo had stolen it from one of the guys and sent it over to Dean. He had been in the perfect position to score, and he knew he would have made the shot if Lucifer hadn’t run into him. 

It didn’t seem to matter to John that it had been obvious the body slam wasn't accidental or the fact that Lucifer was on the same team as Dean: it was Dean’s fault. He ‘shouldn’t lose the ball just because someone lightly bumped into him’. 

“Basketball is a man’s game, so be a man!” John had yelled and the rest of the class --save his friends-- laughed and high fived one another while John conveniently turned his back.

It was also Dean’s fault when Uriel ran into him and ended up on the floor, gripping his leg. 

“You think being cheap and trying to injure the offense is going to get you anywhere in life? Fifty, in the corner, now!” Dean moved to the side to do his push-ups while Uriel stood up and kept playing like nothing had happened. 

Dean lost count of how many times he had been pushed over, tripped, or run into before the class was up. All he knew was that he was hurting all over and he couldn’t wait to get home. Jo and Benny also had some scrapes and bruises after the class, but they hadn’t had it as bad as Dean.

“...good jobs with your teams today Mr. Novak and Mr. Heyerdahl,” came John’s voice as everyone made their way towards the doors to the changing rooms, Dean and his friends trailing behind. “Miss Harvelle and Mr. Lafitte you need to practice teamwork better, you let both of your teams down.”

“Yeah, we were the problem,” said Jo sarcastically under her breath so John wouldn’t hear.

“You!” said John while pointing at Dean, “You have detention with me today.”

It took everything in his power to bite his tongue and nod without glaring. Of course, Jo had to open her mouth. Dean loved her like a sister, but there were times he wished she would just let things go and not make a big deal out of them, especially when Dean suffered for it. 

“You would think of all the names in the class he would remember yours, at least your last name since he has the same one!”

“Miss Harvelle, go get changed! _Dean_ you can start cleaning this room by putting everything back where it’s supposed to be,” John snapped before he stormed into the coach’s office. 

Dean looked over the room. It was one giant mess. There were all kind of balls everywhere, jumping ropes tangled together here and there, and the weights were all on the floor on the opposite side of the room from where they were supposed to be. John had most likely been planning for a while, knowing the detention would be starting today and he could force Dean to clean up. He must have let all his classes be as messy as they wanted. 

Still beside him, Jo said, “Sorry? It just slipped out,” while avoiding eye contact. 

Dean bent down to pick up one of the balls that was on the floor next to him. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll see you tomorrow. That is, if John doesn't kill me.” 

“At least we know whose backyard we should dig up if you don’t show up tomorrow. See you, brotha!” Benny called to him as he and Jo made their way out. Jo sent a small nod in Dean’s direction before looking away.

Having to bend down over and over again and then walk back and forth was starting to take it’s toll on Dean who was already tired and hurting. But Dean kept going, mainly because he didn’t want John to have one more thing to hold over him. As much as this sucked, Dean was thankful that John left him alone. The only exception was when there were fifteen minutes left of detention and John came out of his office just to tell Dean that he better not forget to wipe the benches too. 

Dean finished putting the last of the weights back in their rightful place before going to get something to clean with. After years of helping both his mom and Bobby clean up at work, Dean was quite used to it, so it didn’t take him all that long to finish.

“I’m done,” said Dean from the doorway to the office when there were two minutes left on the clock. 

John looked up from a old journal he was reading and glanced at his watch. “You finished all of it?” he asked before standing up and entering the gym to take a look for himself. When he couldn’t find anything, he groaned out, “Fine, you can go. You have detention with me tomorrow as well. Meet me here after school.” Dean had barely managed a nod before John had turned and gone back inside his office, closing the door behind him.

When Dean walked into the changing room, he found it _completely_ empty. By that he meant all of his stuff was gone. All of it, gone! The old leather jacket he loved that he had gotten from his mom two months earlier, gone! His phone and keys, gone! There wasn’t anything left in the room that wasn’t bolted to the walls or the floor. 

Dean slipped down the wall he had been standing next to and closed his eyes. If he remembered correctly, it was supposed to start raining right about now and after meeting with Charlie in the library for his essay it would be dark. He was in no state to walk home, tired and wet, in only a t-shirt and shorts. 

“Sorry I’m late! Something came up.” When Dean open his eyes, he saw a guilty looking Charlie standing there with all of his stuff. At the confused look on Dean’s face, Charlie added, “Didn’t you see Benny’s note?”

“What? No! There’s no note here,” said Dean as he double check if he had missed something. 

“Oh. They must have taken it.” When all Dean did was lift an eyebrow, Charlie explained, “Benny thought the other boys might try something from the way they were whispering and looking at your stuff, so he took it for you instead and left a note saying that he would leave it with me. Of course, he asked me to already be here when you were supposed to be done, but, uh, something came up.”

“Oh! Thanks, Charlie. Remind me to thank Benny tomorrow,” said Dean as Charlie handed over his stuff. “You mind waiting while I take a quick shower?” asked Dean, who was already half naked. 

“Of course not! Besides, you stink Winchester.”

“Bite me!” called Dean over his shoulder as he walked over to the shower stalls.

“Sorry pretty boy, you’re not my type!” 

Dean chuckled to himself as he turned on the hot water and stepped under the spray. The heat was doing wonders on Dean’s sore body. If Charlie wasn’t waiting for him, he might just stay there for hours and wash all of his worries away. 

“Hey,” Charlie’s voice came through the sound of the water, “Maybe you can get Castiel to bite you.” 

_‘Cold shower it is then,’_ thought Dean before calling back, “I hate you!” only to receive laughter in return.

They made quick work of re-writing Dean’s essay in the library, Charlie having spent Dean’s gym period pulling up resources and making an outline for him. It was probably a lot better now since Charlie was a genius when it came to research and she had been able to find a bunch of useful information. It was just before six when Dean and Charlie finally made it out of school. It was raining, just as Dean thought. The rain wasn’t all that bad, but it looked like it had been raining for a while since some puddles had started to form on the streets, especially in the corners where the drains were blocked. If they hurried, they would hopefully make it to Dean’s without getting completely drenched. 

As Dean’s luck would have it, the two of them were just rounding the last corner when a sports car sped past them and right into a big puddle that Dean was standing next to. Dean had just enough time to push Charlie out of the way before he got sprayed. As Dean stood there, completely drenched from head to toe, he could hear Lucifer and Alastair laughing as the drove away.

_‘I hate my life.’_

\- Supernatural -

At the same time Dean’s detention had started, Charlie was sitting by herself in her favorite place in the school's library reading ‘The Hobbit’ for the thousandth time. She was just getting started on chapter two when Benny walked in with an armful of stuff Charlie was pretty sure all belonged to Dean.

“Hey, Charlie! You mind taking this back to Dean for me before his detention is over? I have to be home before my mom gets there. I left the kitchen a mess this morning and if she sees it like that? She will have my head.”

“Sure,” she said as she put her book down and accepted the armful of stuff. “But why do you have it?”

“I had a feeling Sam’s friends were planning to do something to his stuff, so I took it all when I left. I left him a note telling him I would leave it with you since I don’t want Dean to think it was all stolen. I just... don’t know if the note will still be there when he gets there.”

“Don’t worry, I will be there when he gets out of detention. After all, I’m only here because I’m waiting for him.” 

“Thanks, Charlie! You’re the best. See you tomorrow!” With that, Beny turned around and pretty much ran out the door. 

Charlie picked her book back up and continued reading. Just as Charlie was flipping to the next page, the stool in front of her moved and someone sat down on it.

“I thought you needed to go,” said Charlie as she memorized what page she was on and then put her book down on the table in front of her. She didn’t find Benny sitting in front of her like she thought she would. Instead, she found none other than Sam ‘frigging’ Winchester. 

“What do you want?” demanded Charlie, as she pulled all of her’s and Dean’s stuff away from Sam.

“I have a proposition for you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All kudos and comments are loved!


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again to the two lovely ladies, [ Lotrspnfangirl](http://archiveofourown.org/users/lotrspnfangirl/pseuds/lotrspnfangirl) and [Renversermonmonde](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Renversermonmonde/pseuds/Renversermonmonde) ([Trickstermoose67](http://trickstermoose67.tumblr.com) over att Tumblr) for all the help. The story is so much better because of them.

_‘I have a proposition for you. Did Sam Winchester really just say that to me?’_ thought Charlie and felt her eyes widen, almost comically in disbelief. Her whole life, except for the movie night incident, Sam had never so much as looked at her if she wasn’t with Dean. Now he wanted something from her and, truth be told, it scared her. A lot! Not that she would ever let him find out about that. She had long ago learned from all of her favorite games, movies, and books that you should never show your enemies your weaknesses. And you should never make a deal with the devil.

When Charlie was about to tell Sam where he could stick his proposition, Sam quickly said, “Just let me finish before you say anything.”

He waited until Charlie sat back and had crossed her arms. Satisfied, Sam continued, “I need a tutor for the class _your_ friend signed me up for and since you are in that class too, I was hoping you could help me.”

“AP Lit?” Charlie asked, trying to think of which classes she had with Sam. They were together in Algebra but the only class he would’ve had to sign up for would be advanced Literature…

Sam rolled his eyes and nodded his head.

“Why would you want my help? No, why would you _need_ my help? I’ve seen you in class, you’re smarter than you want your friends to know.”

From the shocked look that came across Sam’s face, it was quite clear that Sam did not expect her to know that. The look was only there for a moment before Sam managed to mask it, but it was too late, Charlie had already seen it.

With just raising an eyebrow, Charlie made it crystal clear that she was not going to say anything else until Sam explained himself.

“I’m trying to get into Stanford, okay? I was sure I would get a sports scholarship, but now, because of Dean, I might not get it. So I need a backup plan. Since Miss Hanscum dosen’t like me all that much, I need some help getting on her good side.” At Charlie’s distrusting look, he added, “I can get the boys to back off of Dean. Trust me, Dean’s not gonna like what they have already planned.”

“I still don’t trust you. But... I’m willing to try to help you _if_ you and the others leave Dean alone.”

“Deal.” Sam smiled and held out his hand for them to shake.

Charlie glared at his hand and ignoring it as she said, “I have less than a hour before I have to go meet Dean. What do you need help with?”

“Well,” Sam dropped his hand and shrugged off her snub, “I think Miss Hanscum keeps giving me the most difficult assignment on purpose, just so she can give me a bad grade.”

“You know, you could just apologize to Donna for agreeing with Doug when he called her fat.”

“I’ve tried, okay? I really didn’t mean to laugh. She just doesn't believe me,” said Sam with a guilty look, one that Charlie was pretty sure was genuine.

“I can see if I can get her to go easier on you. Lets put that aside from now. Do you have any old assignments with notes from her about where you can improve? It would help if I know what I’m getting myself into.”

“Yeah, absolutely!” said Sam as he reached for his bag and got his folder. He quickly flipped through it and when he found what he was looking for, he turned the folder over and passed it over to Charlie. “Here is everything I have gotten from her in the past.”

Charlie was at a loss for words. It was so… so neat and organized! The total opposite of Dean’s -- they got opposite ends of the gene pool there. Charlie had lost count of how often she had watched Dean turn his bag upside down to spill everything all over his desk just because he couldn’t find a piece of paper in between all the others. A few times, she had taken his bag and organized everything into his folder, including this afternoon to make _sure_ he had his essay stolen, but it never lasted all that long before it erupted back into chaos. Of course, Dean claimed it wasn’t his fault. ‘It just happens! Like magic!’

Looking through the notes Donna had left Sam, Charlie quickly picked out what she could try to do to help. “I think she wants to see more emotions from you. Don’t just write the facts, write how you feel about them. Like…” Charlie looked around her while she was trying to come up with some example. She noticed ‘The Hobbit’ still lying on the table where she put it, but now it was mostly buried under Dean’s clothes. “...like in ‘The Hobbit’! You have read that one, right?”

Sam looked offended as he said, “Of course!”

“Good! You have to be willing to share what you think about what happens, if you can relate to what happens to the characters or not. Write how you would feel if someone showed up at your house and dragged you with them on a dangerous journey. Put yourself in Bilbo’s shoes! Would you be willing to die for something, just because of who your-- ”

A loud ringing interrupted what Charlie was saying.

“Sorry!” said Sam as he patted his pockets to find his phone under the angry stare of the librarian. Finding it, he quickly looked at the screen before answering. “Hey Mom!” in a low voice.

Sam didn’t say much while he was on the phone and Charlie wondered if that was common for Sam when he talked to his mom. He sat there and answered every once in awhile. With every ‘aaha’ and ‘I understand’, Sam shrank more and more in his chair. Every now and then he would start fiddling with the corners of the paper in front of him without realising he was doing it, suddenly stopping for a moment before picking it up again.

Suddenly Sam sat straight up again and said, “But you just came back!” loudly enough for the librarian to shush him. With his eyes closed, Sam took a deep breath before saying, “Do you know when you will be back this time?”

For the first time ever, Charlie felt sorry for Sam. Just a little, though. He still was a major jerk who had bullied her and her friends for years. But... Charlie wasn’t sure a person could see the kicked puppy look Sam was pulling off right now and _not_ feel sorry for him. Anyone that was able to resist it must be dead inside, soulless.

She picked ‘The Hobbit’ back up and found the place she was on, that way it at least looked like she was doing something else then listening in on Sam’s conversation. The whole town knew that Sam and John didn’t always agree on things, but up until now Charlie had always thought that Sam and his mom got along. But now that Charlie thought about it, she could count on one hand the times she had seen Sam with his mom.

Unfortunately for Charlie, the conversation was very one sided. Sam didn’t say much, he just sat there and listened to whatever it was that his mother was saying. Her mind began to wander to the differences between her and Sam. Who would’ve thought they would be sitting here having a civil conversation?

They lived on different sides of the town, Sam in the new and expensive part, and Charlie and the rest of her friends in old part on the outer limits of town. Their part of town wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t anywhere close to what Sam was used to. The houses were smaller, but most of them were well kept. Treehouses dotted the backyards, toys were everywhere, and beautiful flowerbeds decorated every front yard. Everybody knew everyone, and almost everyone that lived there still lived in the house they had grown up in.

The same could not be said about Sam’s part of town. The houses were well taken care of, but they were all lacking that personal touch that Charlie loved about her neighborhood. They were from two very, very different worlds and it made Charlie think about how different Dean’s life might have been if things with his parents had been different. Would they still be friends? Would they have even started talking?

Sam snapping a cold, “Fine. See you when you get back,” before hanging up brought Charlie out of her thoughts. She refocused on the page before her and didn’t stop _reading_ until Sam said, “You can stop pretending now.”

Slightly embarrassed, Charlie put the book down as she looked over to Sam. “I’m sorry?”

“Sure you are,” answered Sam and it was clear he didn’t believe that for a second. “Look, can we just forget that happened and get back to work?”

“Yeah,” Charlie nodded and shifted the book slightly on the table before pushing it away and sitting up straighter, “I don’t remember what I was trying to say before your phone rang but I think I might have figured out what we can do to get your grades up. We have a pair project coming up, I’m pretty sure I can get Donna to pair us up. I have done it a few times before, I can probably do it again.”

“You get to choose who you work with?” asked Sam.

“Well, yeah! Not that the teachers know that, I just give them a few nudges in the right direction,” said Charlie, quite proud of herself. “Anyway, we do the project together, that way Donna has to give you a similar grade as the one she gives me. Well, she will as long as I don’t tell her that you didn’t do anything, and I will tell her that if you don’t help me. You’re going to have to do your part -- like read the whole book, do research on the book and the writer, and of course, help me write the essay. If you don’t, I will make sure you get an F. And trust me, I can.”

“I’ll help you! I pretty good at researching so if you don’t like doing research I can do all that,” offered Sam.

“Ohh, I’ll help with the research. It’s not that I don’t trust you, but I don’t trust you, Sam!” said Charlie as she closed Sam’s folder and passed it back to him.

“Fair enough,” Sam shrugged as he took the folder and put it back into his schoolbag. When he went to close it, Charlie saw a corner of a book between all of Sam’s schoolbooks. Charlie was pretty sure it was the same book she had in her bookshelf at home.

Before she knew it, she had asked Sam, “Are you reading the ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’ series?”

“Yeah, I haven’t had the time to read them until now and I want to read the book before I watch the TV show,” answered Sam, then his eyes widened. “Have you read them? If so, don’t tell me what happens!”

“Yeah, I read them each the moment they came out. I tried to get my friends to read them but they said it was enough to watch the show! Let me tell you, it was so hard to watch and be the only one that knew what was going to happen.”

“I know, right? I tried getting Castiel to read it so I could have someone to talk about it with but he thought that some of the things that happens in it are ‘too wrong’ or something.”

“At least Castiel tried. If the book doesn't have pictures in it then Dean won’t try it.” Charlie rolled her eyes and then glanced back down at the book. “So, how far in it are you?”

Turns out Sam was almost finished with it. The two of them spent what was left of the hour talking about everything that happened so far in the book. It kind of surprised Charlie how much thought Sam put into the events and she was actually enjoying their conversation and debates about different foreshadowing and symbolisms. Sam had never showed any signs that he liked to read in the classes they have had together, he’d never paid any attention. He had always spent most of the time either sleeping or joking around with his friends.

Charlie got so carried away in their conversation that she completely forgot that she was supposed to met Dean in the locker room.

“Shit! I forgot Dean, I have to go!” As she said that she quickly put her book back in her bag and picked up all of Dean’s stuff. She added, “I can meet you here in the lunch break tomorrow if you need any more help before class next week.”

After Sam agreed to meet her the next day she ran out of the library. Sam waited at the table for a few more minutes, slowly zipping up his backpack before standing up and walking out the back entrance of the school. Lucifer and Alistair were both there waiting for him.

When Sam was close enough, Alistair asked, “Did it work?”

“Better than your plan! I told you, stealing his clothes is too predictable. But yeah, she agreed. Now all I have to do is get on her good side, that way I can split her and Dean up for good. That should teach him to leave my friends alone.” Sam rolled his eyes and then remembered. “Oh, by the way, you are going to have to leave Dean alone for a while.”

“But we have lot of plans for him!” answered Alistair angry, almost like Sam was taking his favorite toy away.

“I know and you will get to do them eventually but as of tomorrow you will have to wait until I win Charlie over. Alright?”

“Fine,” answered Alistair at the same time Lucifer said, “Whatever you want, man, he’s your brother.”

“Don’t remind me. Now get out of here,” said Sam before he walked over to his car. Maybe if he was lucky he would still catch his mom before she left for the next month.  


\- Supernatural -  


The first thing Dean did when he and Charlie, got to his house was get out of the wet clothes and for the second time today, he was half naked in front of Charlie. Not that Charlie cared, they had grown up seeing each other in their underwear and after they both came out, it never became a problem. Well, at least not for them. There had been times when Ash and Benny had gotten jealous when Dean wasn’t kicked out of the room like they were when the girls were changing clothes.

Thankfully Charlie wasn’t all that wet so, when Dean went upstairs to try to find some dry clothes for himself, Charlie put her slightly wet jacket and shoes near the radiator in the hall. When she joined Dean upstairs, Dean was almost fully dressed and was in the middle of putting a t-shirt on. He had already found a towel for Charlie to use to dry her hair and she accepted it with a smile.

“I forgot to ask before, what kept you from bringing my stuff back on time?” asked Dean while he shoved the wet clothes into his laundry basket.

“Uhh, umm... nothing important,” answered Charlie, shrugging for effect, and Dean was fairly certain she was lying to him.

“You aren’t plotting something about Castiel again, are you?”

“Me? Never!” said Charlie with mock offense. “You’re welcome for the pie, by the way!”

“Yeah, thanks for that.” Dean gave her a sincere smile and then rubbed his stomach. “Great, now I’m hungry. I’m going to check if there’s anything to eat. You want anything?” asked Dean, looking over to Charlie for an answer, “We can sit down and watch Game of Thrones or something while we snack.”

“I’m not really hungry right now but we can still watch something. Just... not Game of Thrones, please,” answered Charlie in a low, sad voice. Dean bringing up Game of Thrones had reminded Charlie of how much she’d enjoyed talking to Sam and now she felt guilty.

Dean stared at her. He had no idea what had just happened. Before coming to Dean’s house, Charlie had been in a great mood, ecstatic for them to spend the afternoon together. But now it seemed like something was wrong.

“Are you okay?” Dean asked, worried, “Did something happen?”

“No, I’m sorry... I just have a lot on my mind.”

Dean nodded slowly and then offered, “Wanna talk about it?” 

Charlie smiled and reached over to squeeze his arm, knowing that Dean was not usually one to talk about _feelings_ of any kind. “No, I’m good. Besides, no chick-flick moments! Come on, lets get something for you to eat,” said Charlie as she passed Dean and went down to the kitchen. They ended up watching some random show on TV for an hour, Dean eating an unhealthy amount of pizza rolls, before Charlie said she had to get going.  


\- Supernatural -  


The next day, while he was waiting for class to start, Dean was sitting on the floor in front of the classroom with his legs stretched out and his notebook balancing on his knees. He was slowly sketching out a symbol he had seen on a piece of paper, though he couldn’t remember where.

“It’s really good,” came a voice above him.

“Huh? Oh! Hey, Cas! You scared the crap out of me. I need to get you a bell or something.”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you,” apologized Castiel before looking down on Dean’s drawing again. “Why… why are you drawing a devil’s trap?”

“This is a devil’s trap?” Dean asked, cocking the notebook to look at it from a different angle. “Huh, good to know... It might come in handy someday since I’m pretty sure some people in the school are possessed.” Dean chuckled to himself and glanced up at Castiel with a slight shake of his head. No sense in making his new friend think he’s a freak. “No, I saw it somewhere, probably in one of Jo’s books or something, and I thought it was cool.”

“And you remembered all of those details? That’s really impressive,” Castiel said in awe, “I mean there are few mistakes but most of it is correct.”

Raising one eyebrow, Dean asked, “Should I be concerned that you know so much about this?”

“No more than the fact that Jo has books about it. My family is pretty religious, so we have more than enough books about demons and angels. I spent a lot of time looking through them as a child,” explained Castiel.

Dean nodded, taking in the new information and then asked, “Do you also have computer science with Frank Devereaux next?”

“Yeah, is he really craz--” Before Castiel could finish his sentence, Mr. Devereaux showed up. Or at least Castiel presumed it was him since he heard Dean say, “Speaking off the devil,” under his breath.

After Mr. Devereaux opened the classroom, Dean and Castiel made their way inside. “Follow me,” said Dean to Cas as he went straight to the computers in the back next to the window.

“Isn’t it better to sit in the front?” asked Castiel, glancing to the high top tables but following after Dean, “That way we won’t miss anything?”

“Not in this class. Trust me,” said Dean. Then, as if to prove Dean’s point, Mr. Devereaux started lecturing one of the girls in the front about how the ‘government was tracking her through social media’.

After taking her phone away from her and turning it off, Mr. Devereaux turned to the rest of the class. “How many times do I have to say this! The government can track your every move if you have your phone on all the time. Now, since you obviously didn’t learn anything last time, lets go over this again. Since everyone in here is stupid enough to be on social media, log into at least one of them and-- ”

Before Dean could stop him, Castiel raised his hand and interrupted, “I’m not on any social media platforms, Mr. Devereaux.”

“Ha! Like I will believe that. You’re the new kid right? Novak, Cassiel or something.”

“It’s Castiel, sir,” he corrected but Mr. Devereaux didn’t pay any attention to him as he sat down in front of his computer.

“Dude, you shouldn't have done that,” whispered Dean while shaking his head.

“Lets see if you’re telling the truth, Mr. Novak.” Mr. Devereaux started typing away at the keyboard, turning the overhead screen off as he searched for what he was looking for. Castiel waited patiently for the paranoid man, slightly curious to see what he would be able to dig up. The rest of the students stayed silent, a thrum of nervous excitement at the ‘new kid’ already being in trouble running through them. Dean rolled his eyes and started working on his drawing again, talking to Castiel in a low voice. “Interesting” and “Huh” was muttered a few times from their teacher until finally, he looked up with a wide smile and flicked the screen back on.

As soon as the big screen flickered to life, Dean looked up from his drawing. “Now, Mr. Novak here might not have a social media account for himself, but that doesn't mean that he’s not all over them. Be careful about who you surround yourself with because they might plaster you all over the internet. So far, I have figured out that he is the youngest son of Chuck Novak, who is best known as the writer Chuck Shurley.”

Dean’s eyebrow shot up and he couldn’t help but think of how Charlie was going to freak out when she found out that Cas was _Chuck Shurley’s son_. She absolutely loved everything he’d ever written. Not obsessively though, like some of the other girls in this school. Becky, for example, who had just turned around in her seat to take a long look at Castiel, blue eyes blow wide and her mouth open as she stared.

“Castiel lives now with his father and stepmother, Naomi Novak, her two sons, Lucifer and Michael, and his older brother, Gabriel.”

 _‘Wait! What? Does this mean that Castiel and Lucifer aren’t actually related?’_ thought Dean as he to turn in his seat to look at Castiel while he tried to take in all the information that Frank was giving him. “I thought you were related to Lucifer,” whispered Dean to Cas when Mr. Devereaux turned his back to the class.

“Not by blood, no. My father married Naomi when I was around three years old and he adopted her two sons. They took up our name right away.” From the look on his face, Castiel didn’t seem to like that little fact very much.

Before Dean could asked him more about it, Mr. Devereaux had opened up a picture of Castiel. “From this picture on his brother’s facebook account, I presume Castiel was involved with a pretty little thing called Meg before he moved here.”

Dean could very well see how Frank came to that conclusion. In the picture Castiel was dressed in what was most likely supposed to be a pizza delivery outfit, and had some brunette in a sluty school uniform _all_ over him. Even though Castiel had a slightly annoyed look pointed at the camera, you could see he was having fun and did not mind having the girl so close. Dean couldn’t help but get insanely jealous of that girl, even if Castiel was dressed in the most dorkiest clothes ever.

“We are only friends, sir,” explained Castiel with a small smile on his face and Dean wanted so bad to believe him. Taking solitude in drawing, Dean went back to work on the devil's trap.

“I’m sure you were, Mr. Pizzaman,” answered Mr. Devereaux in a sarcastic way, which had the most of the class laughing.

Dean was sure that he would not be as calm as Castiel was if someone had been digging up everything they could on him and showing it to the class. Castiel didn’t seemed all that bothered about it.

“Now most of what I found out about him, I found out from Sam Winchester’s page. The two of them have been friends for a _very_ long time. In fact, from the looks of it, the Winchesters seem to invite him on most of their family trips.” Mr. Devereaux clicked away, pictures flashing by them from family photos Castiel was in, standing smiling beside Sam. “Here they are in Hawaii and… then on Iceland.” A few more photos and a close up of Sam and Castiel taking a selfie in front of Disney Castle blew up on the screen. “Here is their trip to Disneyland.”

Dean didn’t realize how upset he had gotten until a hand was wrapped around the wrist he was using to draw and he heard Castiel’s quiet voice, “You’re gonna ruin it.”

Castiel was right of course, Dean’s fingers were white from holding the pencil too hard and he was on the verge of tearing a hole in the middle of the devil's trap with it. Dean took a deep breath to try to calm himself down as he put down his pencil before looking over to Castiel. Dean sent him a small smile just to let him know that he wasn’t mad at him.

Castiel smiled back before he turned back towards Mr. Deveraux to address him, “Mr. Devereaux, I think this is enough about my life. I mean, I’m sure you have something better to teach us then how to spy on teenagers on the internet.”

“Spy on teenagers? Ohh I can teach you so much more than just that.” With that, Frank Devereaux went back to teaching what he had planned for the day and forgot all about Castiel, at least for the time being.

“I’m sorry I didn’t stop him sooner. I learned some time ago that I shouldn’t be ashamed of who I am or who my family is, so I didn’t see the point in stopping him. I didn’t think about how it might affect you if he started talking about Sam and his family. Are you alright, Dean?” asked Castiel.

“It’s not your fault. In fact, Frank never should have done that. He just keeps trying to teach his students that everything they put on the internet stays there forever and that they might not be the only one affected by it.”

“You never answered my question, Dean. Are you alright?”

“I’ve been better. I just need a little time to wrap my head around everything. Like the fact that John likes to take his kids and their friends on huge family vacations everywhere. Oh! Or that my friend is the son of the famous writer that wrote the Supernatural books. Why didn’t you mention that?” asked Dean and thankfully Castiel let him change the subject even though he knew what Dean was trying to do.

“He’s not that famous and I have never seen a reason why I need to tell people what my father does. One of the reason why I spent so much time reading when I was growing up was because he was always too busy writing his books to do something with my and Gabriel,” explained Castiel.

“Ahh, Daddy issues. Hey, you can join our club! We are still debating on the name of it but you’re welcome to join.”

“Who exactly is in this club,” Castiel smiled and then added, “I don’t have to do something weird to get in, do I?”

“I don’t think you have to do anything, but I’m not sure. You’re the first one to join after we founded it. Charlie might come up with something for you to do, but I promise I won’t let her decide on something too crazy.” Knowing Charlie, Dean knew that it might even end up worse for him than it would for Castiel.

“As for who is in this club, aside from me, we have Charlie and Jo, both their fathers passed away when they were younger. We are still debating on if that counts as ‘Daddy Issues’ or just absent fathers. Then we have Benny. He has a strange relationship with his _sire_. They did everything together when Benny was little, but then all of the sudden his dad just moved away. Last and the least, we have Ash. I’m not sure why he’s in this group, it might be just because we are always together. As far as I know his parents and him get along great. But then again, as far as I know, Ash could be from another planet. You will have to come up with a better story though if you want to take over from me as the one with most the daddy issues.”

“Is it bad that I want to take that title away from you?” asked Castiel with a sad smile.

Dean smiled back, his stomach flipping at Castiel's genuine concern. “A little bit, yes. But if you want to, we can exchange Dads. I’m sure Sam would much rather have you as a brother then me…” Dean gave a small shrug and tried to brush off the pain in his voice by smirking and adding, “But I’m keeping my last name!”

“As much as I would like to exchange Sam for my brothers, his family is a little too much for me. Too bad though, Castiel Winchester had such a nice ring to it...”

 _‘Castiel Winchester does have a nice ring to it’_ , thought Dean, _‘A really nice ring to it’_. Crap, he was falling for this kid... He was so screwed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you all liked it! Comments and kudos are as always highly appreciated!


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay, an update!  
> Huges thanks to both of my wonderful betas, [ Lotrspnfangirl](http://archiveofourown.org/users/lotrspnfangirl/pseuds/lotrspnfangirl) and [Renversermonmonde](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Renversermonmonde/pseuds/Renversermonmonde) ([Trickstermoose67](http://trickstermoose67.tumblr.com) over at Tumblr). I couldn’t do this with out them.  
> 

“The rumors, are they true?” asked Castiel all of the sudden while he and Dean walked together towards the cafeteria. Thankfully, the hallway was empty; Mr. Devereaux had let them out from class early and the rest of the class had pretty much ran towards the cafeteria to be first in line.

“What rumors?” asked Dean, even though he was fairly sure what rumor Castiel was talking about. Dean hadn’t really gotten the opportunity to talk to Castiel alone since the rumors of him being gay started going around school. To make matters worse, rumors that Dean had a crush on Castiel had somehow started floating around school, too.

“The rumors of you liking, you know--” said Castiel, clearly having trouble with how to phrase this. If Castiel wasn’t gay, then he would most likely be freaking out, if he had heard the rumors of Dean liking him. Castiel had never given Dean a reason to think he was _against_ gay people, but Dean knew that some people did not take the news of someone close to them coming out well. In fact, one of his best friends had been a great example of that.

“Boys,” finished Castiel at the same time Dean added, “You?”

“What did you just say? Did you just say ‘you’? As in, you like me?” asked Castiel, shocked.

_‘Guess he hadn’t heard that rumor after all,’_ thought Dean. Before Dean could answer him, the door next to them opened and students filled the hall. “Can we talk about this later? I don’t want to have this discussion here in school... I have a detention after school this week, but other than that I’m free.”

“I can meet you at your mom’s cafe after your detention, if you like,” offered Castiel with his head tilted slightly to the side and his eyes never leaving Dean’s. “I have some homework that I need to do anyway and I could use the change of scenery to do it. It’s way too loud at home nowadays. Gabriel recently found some rock band that he’s been playing at the highest volume just to annoy Naomi. I’m not even sure he likes the music himself,” he added with a shake of his head.

“Great! It’s a dat-” Maybe calling it a date wasn’t the best idea.

“It’s two friends meeting to discuss some things,” corrected Castiel and Dean was pretty sure his heart just got crushed into tiny pieces. He was so busy trying to wrap his head around it that he almost didn’t notice that Castiel was still talking, just in a lower voice so the people near them wouldn’t hear him. “I just mean that when I take you out on a date it’s going to be someplace else than your mom’s cafe shop. Not that it’s not a great place for a date, I just think you deserve to go somewhere new and exciting for our first date.”

Dean was so shocked that he actually stopped on the spot and the person behind him walked right into him. Dean didn’t even notice who it was when he apologized. _’Did he just say when? As in, not a matter of if, just when it will happen?’_ thought Dean and a smile broke out on his face.

Castiel hadn’t noticed right away that Dean had stopped so he had gotten a little ahead of Dean and was now waiting for him in front of the cafeteria. After Dean caught up with him, they walked inside together, both of them smiling. Even though their class had ended early, a lot of other classes had gotten to the cafeteria before them. Like Sam’s class for example. When Castiel noticed him, he turned back to Dean and said, “Listen, Dean, I promised Sam I would sit with him today so I will meet you at the cafe-shop. Around 5:15?”

“Yeah, I will see you then.” Castiel sent Dean a smile before he turned around and walked over to Sam’s table. Dean took a quick look to see if any of his friends were there yet. Unfortunately, their table was empty so it looked like he would have to wait for them alone. He grabbed some food and took his normal seat. As he picked apart his sandwich, Dean went over everything that had just happened.

He had a non-date with Castiel! And Castiel had pretty much just asked him on a date! How awesome was that! He couldn’t keep from smiling. That is how his friends found him, sitting all alone with a huge, goofy smile on his face.

“Okay, spill, pretty boy!” said Jo as she put her tray down next to him and sat down in front of it.

After taking a big bite of his food, Dean, with his mouth full, said, “I have no idea what you are talking about.”

“Sure you don’t! I haven’t seen you smile so much since a certain someone started school. Now spill, what happened?” demanded Charlie from across the table, not offended by Dean’s bad table manners.

“It’s nothing, really. Castiel and I are just hanging out after school.”

“Like a date?” asked Charlie, with the biggest grin on her face, and if Dean didn’t know any better he would say she was more excited about it than he was.

“It’s not a date!” _’This time,’_ thought Dean, but he decided to keep that little bit of information to himself for now. Castiel hadn’t actually asked him out yet, so there was no need to get his friends overly excited for something that potentially wouldn’t happen. Dean knew that Charlie would go insane with planning what he should wear, where they should go, what he should talk about, the moment she heard that Dean had a date. Hell, she would probably drag Jo down the rabbit hole with her! “It’s just two friends hanging out.”

“So you wouldn’t mind if I showed up too?” asked Benny, with an evil glint in his eyes.

Dean really, really wanted to say, “Show up and I will take your frigging head off!” but that would imply that this was a date. Which it wasn’t. So he gave the polite answer, “Sure, you’re welcome to show up.” _’Please, please don’t show up!’_

He didn’t think any of them believed a word of what he was saying, so it didn’t surprise him all that much when Benny said, “No man, I have no interest in being your third wheel.”

Something told Dean that Benny wouldn’t appreciate it if he reached across the table and kissed him right then and there. Plus, he was pretty sure Castiel, who was looking over to them, wouldn’t like that either.

After sending a small nod in Benny’s direction, Dean turned his attention towards the girls. “Turns out Castiel isn’t related to Lucifer after all, not by blood at least. Apparently, Cas’s dad married Lucifer’s mom when Cas was little,” he said trying to change the subject.

“What? Poor Castiel! What was his dad thinking?” Charlie wondered out loud.

“Who knows? He probably had his head stuck in a book somewhere. That reminds me, I invited Castiel to join our ‘Daddy Issue’ club,” said Dean with his mouth half full.

“Okay, that’s not random at all,” said Jo at the same time Charlie asked, “What is it with this town and dads?”

“I know! I mean, you would think that the great Chuck Shurley could take a break from writing to spend some time with his son every now and again,” said Dean just to get a rise out of Charlie, which seems to have worked if you went by how Charlie’s eyes had widened.

Since Charlie was still trying to process what she had just learned, Ash, who up till now had been doing god knows what on his phone, asked, “Wait! Isn’t that the guy that wrote the books Charlie is always talking about? You know, the ones about the two models or something.”

“I think you mean the two underwear models,” said Benny joining in, since they all knew from experience that it would get a rise out of Charlie. Charlie could get quite protective over things she cared about - real or fictional.

“For the millionth time, they are not underwear models!” said Charlie defensively. “They’re-- You know what, never mind. Is Chuck Shurley really his dad? _The_ Chuck Shurley?”

“Yeah! Not that that is his real name, but yeah,” confirmed Dean. “Please don’t make a big deal out of this next time you see Cas.”

“I would never!” said Charlie offended. Adding, “I wouldn’t!” after getting an eye-roll from all of her friends. Suddenly Charlie’s eyes widened and she said, “I just remember, I have to be somewhere. Bye!” before she stood up and left the cafeteria.

It went unnoticed by her friends when Sam followed behind her a few minutes later.

 

\- Supernatural -

 

The clock on the wall read 5:45 when Dean walked into his mom’s cafe-shop later that day, which made him half an hour late. Detention with John had been hell and had gone on and on; Dean was completely exhausted.

Normally, detentions at school would be an hour of sitting in a classroom doing nothing. Occasionally, depending on the teacher, the students would get an extra assignment that they had to do. On the rare occasion Crowley was in charge of the detention, the students would have to stand in line for the whole hour. If you stepped out of line, you would have to go to the back and your hour would start again. The school record for the longest detention was four and a half hours. Since Crowley had given John _complete_ power over Dean’s detentions, John decided to make them as hard as he possibly could.

Today’s one had been nothing but one hard task after the another. And this time, John hadn’t left him alone for a single minute. He had just stood there, watching, counting, and criticizing everything Dean did. If Dean didn’t do something a hundred percent up to John’s standards he would get a, “You call that a push-up, you pussy? Again!” and he would have to start over from the beginning. Which was why Dean was late, John had used every trick in the book to delay Dean. It was like he knew Dean had somewhere important to be. He had even _accidentally_ locked the locker room and turned off the water in the showers so Dean had to spend ten minutes looking for him to get access to his stuff again and to wash off.

Of course, Dean could go and complain to Crowley about how John was treating him, but he might as well go and try to find Santa Claus and ask him for a new dad. After all, as far as Crowley and John were concerned, Dean had gotten himself into this mess by changing Sam’s signature. Besides, Dean had never been one to complain to authorities.

The only thing that made the detention durable was that Dean had been determined to not have John ruin his good mood before his non-date with Castiel. Dean hoped he hadn’t given up on waiting for him... Straight after his detention, Dean considered calling Castiel to let him know that he would be a little bit late, but as he took his phone up from his pocket he had realized that they had never exchanged phone numbers. He, of course, checked what number the SMS was from, but it had come from a blocked number so no luck there.

The shop was quite crowded and most of the tables were in use; Dean didn’t see Castiel anywhere when he looked over the place. As Dean made his way up to the counter, the door behind it opened and his mom stepped out from the back room, carrying a tray with some coffee cups on them.

“Hey, sweetie! How was your day?” asked Mary as she put the tray down and started making two cups of hot chocolate. She pulled out two plates and served up a slice of blueberry pie on one plate and a chocolate cake piece on the other.

“It was fine.” That is, if you don’t count the detention, but his mom didn’t need to know that John was making his life a living hell. She felt bad enough about the whole John thing already. “Do you know if a-”

“Can you take this to the booth all the way in the back for me? I need to go check on the oven. Thanks, sweety!” And with that, she was gone.

“But I-” with a sigh Dean looked over the tables in search for Castiel one more time before picking up the tray and making his way over to the booth in the back. The booth looked empty from where Dean stood and he didn’t notice anyone sitting there until he was standing right next to it.

The person had his head buried in a book in front of him, which explained why Dean hadn’t seen him. Even though the trench coat was a dead give away, Dean would have recognized Castiel straight away without it. He was so deep into the book that he didn’t notice Dean until one of the mugs of hot cocoa was slid beside his book.

His head shot up and he said, “Oh, I didn’t order any- Oh! Hi, Dean.”

Dean took a quick look to make sure there was nobody else on the nearby tables that could have ordered this, but all the tables nearby were empty. Casting a quick look behind him he saw his mom’s and Charlie’s heads peeking around the corner. Leave it to his mom to provide food for his non-date without even being asked. His mom had the courtesy to stop and go away when she saw Dean looking at them, Charlie did not. Thankfully his mom dragged Charlie away too after Charlie had shown no signs of stopping. The last thing Dean saw of them was a thumbs up from Charlie before she disappeared behind the corner.

“Hi, Cas! Sorry, I’m late. Detention took longer than it was supposed to,” said Dean as he sat down across from Cas. Since Dean knew that Castiel wasn’t a fan of pies he offered Castiel the cake and offered to go get something else if he didn’t want it.

“No! Chocolate cake is my favorite. How did you know?”

“I wish I could take the credit for that, but you’re going to have to thank my mom. I don’t know how she does it, but she seems to have a sixth sense about what people like or dislike.”

“Or she just has a good memory. I ordered the same thing last time I was here,” said Castiel, smiling.

“Then you must have been something special because she usually doesn't remember what people order the moment they are out the door unless they are regulars. Most of the time she doesn't even remember what I had. She just knows that I most often have the pie if I can.”

“You look a lot like her. I mean, Sam gets his looks from John, but I can’t see anything from him in you. You get everything from her. Which might be why I didn’t believe at first that you two were brothers, you don’t really look alike,” said Castiel looking at Dean like he could find the answer to all the world’s problem if he just looked hard enough. “And she’s super nice, just like you! We talked for some time while I was waiting. I didn’t mention knowing you though. It wasn’t like I was trying to hide it, it just didn’t come up,” Castiel added in hurry.

“It’s okay, I think she knew. Did you have to wait long?” asked Dean as he started on his pie. He didn’t think he had ever waited so long to start eating when he’d the pie right in front of him.

“Ohh, don’t worry about it. I came here right after school and I managed to finish all my homework. Then I started reading my dad’s next book and I totally lost track of time. He usually makes me a copy and asks me for my opinion before he has them published,” Castiel answered as he picked up the book to show it to Dean.

Dean could see right away that it was a part of the Supernatural series. Dean had _borrowed_ a few of Charlie’s books in the past and read them. He liked them quite a lot, actually, but he wasn’t about to let his friends know about it. It was kind of his guilty pleasure. He had even bought two of his favorite books and they were now well hidden in his bedroom, far better hidden than his porn magazines. He wasn’t really worried that his friends would ever find the books, either. Benny and Ash had learned their lesson when they had gone through his room looking for porn. Why they thought he would have some magazines with naked girls in the first place was beyond him. They stopped looking after that and Dean quickly learned that it was just better to let the girls know where they were instead of letting them tear through his room looking.

Maybe thinking about porn right in front of Castiel wasn’t the best idea after all...

“So, about that thing we were talking about at school…” said Dean quietly after making sure nobody - more importantly his mom or Charlie - was in a listening radius.

“You mean about you liking boys or you liking me?” asked Castiel with a grin on his face that Dean wanted to hide from. Even though he was ninety-nine percent sure that Castiel liked him too, Dean was kind of hoping to disappear right about now.

“Yeah, that.” That didn’t really answer Castiel’s question, but Dean figured they were kind of the same thing, so it didn’t really matter.

“Dean,” Castiel waited until Dean looked up so he could look him in the eyes before continuing, “I like you too, but…” The pause that followed wasn’t all that long, but it felt like time had stopped for Dean, especially since the happy look that had been on Castiel’s face earlier had now been replaced with a far more serious one.

_But_. God, he hated that word. If he could choose, he would erase that word from the dictionary. Nothing good ever follows the word but; I brought pie, _but_ you can’t have any until after dinner. Dean, you have a brother, _but_ he doesn’t want anything to do with you. Dean, you’re on the team, _but_ John is going to be in charge.

“…I won’t hide who I am. I’ve tried that before and I can’t--I won’t do it again. I’m not saying that you have to go tell everybody right now, but--”

Dean hadn’t realized that he had been holding his breath until he let it out and started laughing lightly. “Cas, I’m out, I’ve been OUT for years. Everybody that _knows_ me, knows I’m gay. I just don’t shout it from the rooftops. If someone were to straight out ask me, I wouldn’t lie.”

Castiel was visibly relieved to hear that, and the smile that had disappeared for the short period of time was back. Dean had to admit that he was curious about whether there was something more to Cas’s coming out story or not. “So… would you like to go out with me sometime? On a real date?” asked Castiel, and even though he had been nothing but confidence earlier that day at school when he talked about taking Dean on a date, he sounded nervous now. Like Dean could ever be stupid enough to turn him down.

With all signs of nervousness gone, Dean said, “Hell, yes!” a little too loudly apparently, since now everyone else in the shop was staring at him. Including his mom, who was giving him the stink eye for disturbing the quiet in the shop, even though Dean could tell she was trying to keep the smile off her face at the same time. A little quieter he said, “Yes, I would love to go out with you.”

“How does around seven on Saturday sound?” asked Castiel.

Dean tried to remember if he had promised Bobby to work longer that day. He was fairly certain that he had not and if he had, Bobby was sure to understand and let Dean off the hook this once. “Yeah, that works for me, I have work until six so that gives me time to get home and change.”

“Then I will pick you up here around seven,” said Castiel, and Dean was sure that the smile on his face mirrored the one on Castiel’s.

They sat there for hours, just talking. They had invited Charlie to join them when she was on her breaks, but mostly they were left alone.

“It’s probably getting late, I should get going now,” said Castiel before standing up and begun to gather his stuff. Taking a look around him, he noticed that they were the only once left. “Wait, where is everyone?”

“The shop closed more than an hour ago,” said Dean with a chuckle as he started cleaning up on the table. “My mom is still in the back but everyone else is long gone.”

“I’m so sorry,” said Castiel and started helping Dean clean everything up in a hurry. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

Dean reached across the table to put a hand on top on Cas’s to try to stop him. “Dude, don’t worry about it. It’s fine, really. The gang and I have done this a million times.” Okay, that wasn’t exactly true, but what’s one little lie gonna do?

Dean ended up having to half drag Castiel away from the table and Castiel kept looking back at the dirty dishes left there, all the while asking if Dean was sure he didn’t want any help cleaning up.

Mary walked out of the kitchen right as they reach the door. “Oh, you’re leaving? Do you want anything to eat on the road? We have some leftovers that you are more than welcome to,” she offered.

“Yes, I would love some. Your baking is very good. Thank you, Mrs. Win--” Castiel seemed to have forgotten for a moment that Dean’s mom never became Mrs. Winchester. Since he was Sam best friend, Dean figured that he must know the real Mrs. Winchester.

It wasn’t the first time people had made that mistake, and Dean hated it every time he heard it. He knew that his mom had dreamed about marrying John back when they were dating and now every time she heard it, it was just a painful reminder of what could have been. Everybody that had known them back then had been sure John and Mary would get married and, since Mary had a son with John’s last name, people often presumed that they had.

Mary was so used to it that she didn’t even hesitate before saying, “It’s Campbell, but you can just call me Mary. All of Dean’s friends do,” before she started putting some of the pastries that were left into a box.

“Right, thank you Mrs. Camp- Uhh, Mary,” Castiel said as he sent a quick look in Dean’s direction only to get a small, sad smile in return.

“Here you go, Castiel. It was very nice meeting you,” said Mary as she gave Castiel the box.

“And you,” replied Castiel before Mary made her way back to the kitchen. Castiel reached for the door before turning back to Dean. “I must get going. Thank you, Dean, I had fun tonight and I’m really looking forward to Saturday.”

“Me too, Cas.” With one final smile, Castiel was gone out the door. Dean didn’t turn away until he had seen Castiel get in his car and drive away.

As he went to clean up their table Dean could help but think that as far as a non-date went, it had been a pretty good one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter and like always all comments and kudos are loved!


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to start by thanking everyone that has left kudos or comments, it's always fun to see what you guys think.  
> And like always, I couldn't have done this without my two wonderful betas [ Lotrspnfangirl](http://archiveofourown.org/users/lotrspnfangirl/pseuds/lotrspnfangirl) and [Renversermonmonde](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Renversermonmonde/pseuds/Renversermonmonde) ([Trickstermoose67](http://trickstermoose67.tumblr.com) over at Tumblr).

Dean was in such a great mood the rest of the week that not even John’s long, dreadful detentions could bring him down. Hell, even Sam and his friends seemed to have forgotten about him for the time being. Even so, as far as he was concerned, the weekend couldn’t come fast enough.

After getting Cas’ number, he spent every moment he could texting back and forth with him. But it didn’t matter how hard he tried -- Castiel wouldn’t budge! He couldn’t get anything out of the other boy about what he had planned for the weekend. By the time he went to sleep on Friday, he’d imagined about a hundred possible ways their date could play out.

Since Mom’s coffeehouse was out, there weren’t all that many nice places left in town. Dean really, _really_ hoped that Castiel wasn’t planning on taking him to one of the restaurants in Sam’s part of town. Not only were the prices through the roof, but Dean was fairly certain that none of his clothes would fit the dress code for those places. For all he knew, they all had like five different types of forks to use during a multiple course meal and he already knew if that was the case, he would end up making a complete fool of himself when - not if, when - he used the wrong one.

Somehow, Dean had managed to keep his little date with Castiel a secret from everyone else. How that was even possible was beyond him. Not only were his friends the nosiest people he knew, but Dean struggled with wanting to scream it from the rooftops because, _hello_ , he had a date with Castiel! A _real_ date! It wasn’t that Dean was ashamed about the date or anything, he was just nervous enough about it without his friends making a big deal out of it.

Of course, there was also the part where he didn’t want Sam to find out about it. Not that his friends would ever tell! Things like this just tended to leak out when too many knew about it. And since Sam hadn’t punched him yet for even _thinking_ about going out with his friend, Dean figured Castiel hadn’t told him either.

On Saturday morning, he woke up two hours before his alarm was supposed to go off. After tossing and turning, wide awake, in bed for the next half hour, he finally gave up on trying to get more sleep. When he sat up, he couldn’t help but cringe when he noticed the complete mess that was his room. There were clothes everywhere. Not that he was surprised... he’d pretty much emptied his entire closet last night trying to find something to wear. Normally he would’ve just asked Charlie to pick something for him; he’d even tried to call Charlie five times last night, willing to tell her everything if she would just came and help him, but she never returned any of his calls. He eventually found out from Jo that Charlie had some tutoring thing that she had to attend.

An hour after getting out of bed, he was standing in front of his mirror holding a red shirt in one hand and a white on in the other, desperately trying to figure out which one to wear. He nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard, “Who are you and what the hell have you done to my kid?” behind him.

“Ha ha. Very funny, Mom,” answered Dean while looking at her reflection in the mirror over his shoulder.

“No, I mean it. It’s not even seven and you’re up. I don’t think that’s ever happened. Is the world ending or something that I don’t know about?” Mary asked seconds before she noticed the state of his room. “What the heck happened in here? Do we have a poltergeist in the house?”

“I’m trying to find something to wear!” Dean replied, trying not to sound as exasperated as he felt. “You can either help me out or get out. Your choice.”

“Well, since you asked so nicely…” Mary said sarcastically before making her way to his bed. After moving some of the stuff Dean had thrown on top of it out of the way, she sat down. “I can’t help you if I don’t know what the occasion is.”

“I kind of… I kind of have a date after work. But can you keep that to yourself for now? I don’t want everyone to know about it in case it doesn’t work out. Oh, and I won’t be home until late tonight.”

“A date? Where? And please tell me it’s with Castiel.”

“Yes, its with him and I don’t know where. It’s driving me crazy!” Dean said as he threw the shirts on the growing pile and turned to find something else.

“Why are you freaking out over what to wear? You two have already gone on a date.”

“That wasn’t a date!” Dean argued for what felt like the hundredth time. Dean was sure he heard his mom say, “Could have fooled me,” under her breath in response.

Dean sighed and turned to give her a look. “Are you gonna help me or just give me the third degree?” asked Dean, who had just about given up on trying to find something. His goal had been to pick something that was a little bit nicer than the things he normally wore, but not _too_ fancy.

“Relax, honey. Here, try these on.”

 

 

 

\- Supernatural -

 

Dean would’ve never made it to work on time if it hadn’t been for his mom’s help. Without her, he would probably still be standing in his underwear in front of the mirror trying to find something to wear. He hadn’t even had time to clean up his room before he had to leave to catch the bus. All he could hope for was that he would have some time to clean up before Castiel showed up to pick him up, or hope that Castiel wouldn’t want to come in.

The first thing Dean had done the day after his none-date was call Bobby and double check if he’d promised to stay longer today, which of course he had. Dean had gone on and on for nearly five minutes about how he would make it up to Bobby if he could _please_ just quit at his regular time. He promised he could work overtime the day after or even the whole next weekend. He offered just about everything to be able to go on the date with Castiel, not that he told Bobby about it or anything. He would never hear the end of it if Bobby found out that he had a date. Turned out he didn’t need to do any of that because the first chance Bobby got, he told Dean to “shut up”, “stop beggin’”, and “I expect you to make it up later”.

Bobby was already hard at work when Dean walked through the door. “Hi, Bobby.”

“Hey, you have a car waiting for you in the garage. Get started if you want to be able to go home on time,” Bobby called back from his office.

Dean really didn’t need to be told twice and got straight to work. He busted his tail the entire day, with only a few exceptions where his mind wandered off and he started thinking about Castiel. By the afternoon, Bobby had come to the garage to help him work on the cars now that he was done with his paperwork.

Bobby was in the process of putting in a new radiator when he asked Dean what the time was.

“Uh, it’s five minutes to five,” Dean answered after looking at the clock on the wall.

“Okay, great!” said Bobby as he picked up a dirty rag and tried to clean his hands. “Why don’t you go and clean up a little before you leave?”

“But it’s only five,” Dean looked over, confused. “I still have an hour left.”

Not that he couldn’t use the extra hour, but he still felt bad about breaking his promise about working over time. Bobby had always been good to him the last thing he wanted was to let him down. Somehow, Dean got the feeling Bobby knew something that he didn’t. It only added to his suspicions when Bobby said, “That’s okay, you can go early. Just make sure t’ grab the keys to the Impala before you go.”

“The Impala? What do you want with baby?” asked Dean, completely lost over the strange request. Had he missed something when he was having one of his daydreams about Castiel?

“Well, I got this strange phone call yesterday. It was some boy who wanted to take this other boy he liked out on a date but thought his car wasn’t ‘good enough’. How he got that impression is beyond me.” Bobby paused and threw the rag over his shoulder, raising his eyebrow with a smug smirk. “Anything you want to tell me?”

 _Damn._ Dean didn’t know whether he wanted to kiss Castiel or kill him. On one hand, he’d told Bobby about their date which Dean had been trying to keep low-key for the moment, but on the other… Castiel scored permission for Dean to take his baby out for a ride.

“I get to take baby?” asked Dean hoping that if he didn’t answer Bobby’s question that the older man would let it go.

“Yeah, you can take her and bring her back tomorrow. Something tells me I don’t have to tell you to take good care of her. That boy said he’d meet you at your mom's place so you don’t have to go pick him up. Now, go home and get ready!”

“Great! Thanks, Bobby! I mean it!” Dean exclaimed, vibrating with excitement. “I’ll take super good care of her, you know I will!” said Dean with the biggest smile possible as he made his way to go get the key.

“Just have fun and be careful. Oh, I left you a little something in the glove compartment!” Dean heard Bobby call after him.

After getting the keys and a quick change of clothes, since there was no chance in hell he was sitting down on the leather seats in his dirty work clothes, Dean thanked Bobby again and said his goodbyes.

Dean didn’t have to look long for the Impala. He tended to keep track of her whereabouts anyways, but even so, she stood out in-between all the other old, rusty cars Bobby had. For one thing, she was so clean you could see your own reflection on her sleek, black sides. He’d never been so glad that he insisted on keeping the Impala clean at all times, even though she wasn’t even _his_. Yet. His friends liked to make fun of him for it, but he didn’t care. It felt nice and relaxing taking care of her. While Dean cleaned and polished, he could put all of his troubles aside for the moment, wash them away along with the dust on baby’s metal.

Before Dean drove home, he opened the glove compartment to check what Bobby had left him. He wasn’t remotely surprised to find a pack of condoms.

 

 

 

\- Supernatural -

 

Dean did a double take when he walked into his room. He was fairly certain that the room had not been this clean when he left home. Or in years, in general. And for the hundredth time in his life, Dean wondered how he had ended up with the best Mom in the world. Maybe it was to make up for having the worst Dad...

Dean was just getting dressed after taking a shower when the front door opened.

“Dean! Please tell me you did not buy the car in the driveway,” came his mom’s voice from downstairs.

“Of course I didn’t buy the car in the driveway! I bought the car parked down the street,” answered Dean sarcastically, before adding, “No, you know I don’t have nearly enough money to buy her yet.”

“So what? You stole her?” jested Mary as Dean came downstairs.

“Bobby loaned her to me for the night,” said Dean before giving his mom a kiss on the cheek. “Thanks for cleaning up my room. I will make it up to you later, I promise.”

“Don’t mention it. Just remember to let me know when you know when you’ll be home, so I won’t worry.” Dean nodded and Mary’s smile relaxed. “Are you all set to go? Castiel should be here soon.”

Dean looked at the clock noting it was twenty to seven, his heart skipping a beat when he realized she was right. The two hours he had to get ready had gone by in no time. So of course, the next twenty minutes seemed to drag on forever.

The doorbell rang at exactly seven, and if Dean almost fell over his own two feet to get to the door, then there was nobody around to prove that. Except for his mom, but she didn’t count. Trying to not look too excited, Dean stopped and took a deep breath before opening the door.

“Hey, Cas!” said Dean and then added, “Wow, you clean up nice.”

“Thank you, I was about to say the same thing about you,” answered Castiel, even though his eyes never left Dean’s. “You ready to go?”

“Yeah, just one moment,” said Dean before turning around to grab his jacket and calling out to tell his mom that he was leaving. “Okay, I’m ready.”

“I see you got the Impala. If you want,” Castiel offered with a smirk, already knowing what the answer would be, “we can take mine instead.”

“And leave my baby all alone? Sorry Cas, I can’t do that to her,” said Dean as they made their way into the car. “You’re going to learn to love her just like everybody else. Just wait and see.”

“We will see. Think you will be willing to share her when that time comes?”

“With you? I think that can be arranged. I just have to buy her first. So, where to Cas?”

 

 

 

\- Supernatural -

 

“You’re sure we are going the right way?” asked Dean as he took another turn that he was sure would take them deeper into the forest. By now, they were about an hour outside of town, somewhere lost, at least in Dean’s opinion, in a forest. He had almost asked, “Sam didn’t ask you to bring me here to kill me, did he?” when Castiel told him to take the turn that would take them off the main road and onto a road in-between the trees.

Castiel took his eyes off the road as he looked over to Dean. “Yes, Dean, it’s just a little bit further.”

Sure enough, a few minutes later Castiel told Dean to park in front of what looked like a small, old barn. It wasn’t rundown or anything, it had obviously been well taken care of, and Dean could even tell that some of its parts had recently been redone.

“What is this place?” asked Dean as he surveyed the place through the windshield.

“It’s a nice little restaurant owned by a family that lives here nearby. They bought this place a year ago and have been working on turning it into a restaurant. They haven’t fully opened yet so they are keeping it low-key until they are ready. But their food is really good, trust me.”

Aside from the sign that said “Restaurant” above the door and the few picnic tables on the lawn next to it, there was nothing that indicated that you could find a restaurant here. There hadn’t even been a sign where you got off the main road.

“How the hell did you find this place?” asked Dean as he and Castiel walked up to it.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t quite catch that,” Dean said trying to catch Cas’s eyes after Castiel murmured something while looking at his shoes.

“I got lost on my way to town.”

Dean took a look behind him. “Cas, that was the only way here. How could you end up lost here if you were on the main road?”

“It’s all Gabriel’s fault! I have the tendency to follow instructions down to the letter and he knows that. He gave me the wrong directions, just to mess with me,” explained Castiel.

Dean tried his best not to laugh. He really did! His best effort just wasn’t enough.

Dean didn’t know what he had been expecting when he walked into the barn, but it certainly wasn’t this. He was in heaven, or a car heaven at least. Everywhere he looked he could see some part of a car. There weren’t many tables inside, but all of them were made using car-hoods or some other spare parts, and every single chair was fashioned from old car seats. In some places, car doors were soldered together and used to add a sense of privacy around the tables. Even old headlights were used to light up the room. License plates were hung all over the walls and ‘Highway to Hell’ was playing in the background.

It was almost like he was back at work, except without all the grease and the dust. And, of course, the fantastic company.

“You approve?” asked Castiel as he watched Dean take in the room in amazement.

Before Dean could answer, “Dad, the lost puppy is back!” was heard from the other side of the room. Dean couldn’t help but laugh at the nickname Castiel had earned. When he looked over, he saw a young girl standing behind a counter. “Just sit down, I will be right with you!”

“Thanks, Krissy,” said Castiel before taking a step towards the nearest table.

“I’m not sitting at an old Volvo-table when there is an empty Mustang’s one. Come on, Cas, we are sitting over there,” said Dean as he gripped Castiel’s hand and dragged him over to the table made out of spare parts from an old Mustang.

As they sat down, Dean took a moment to run his hands over the cherry-red table made from the hood before letting his eyes wander around the place. After getting his fill, they finally settled on Castiel. “This place is awesome, Cas.”

“Just wait till you try the food. Something tells me you’re going to love it,” said Castiel as he reached for the menus and handed one to Dean. “Krissy told me last time that, since they haven’t fully open yet, their menu isn’t as big as it’s going to be... but, they have hamburgers and some other things. Hope that’s okay for a first date.”

Castiel sounded nervous, anxious for a moment, and Dean had to bite back a laugh. Okay for a first date didn’t even come close, this place was awesome! “Are you kidding, Cas? Of course that’s okay!” Castiel beamed in response, his cheeks a bit pink in the lamp light.

It didn’t take Dean long to find the burger he wanted, a bacon burger loaded with onion rings. The only problem was, Dean didn’t want to have onion breath for the rest of the night. That would probably ruin his chance of getting to kiss Castiel sometime this evening.

Unfortunately, Dean didn’t get a lot of time to decide before the girl, Krissy according to Cas, came to take their order. “So, what do you guys want?”

Dean couldn’t help but like the girl. Sure, she was a few years younger than them but she knew how to carry herself and Dean got the feeling that she didn’t take crap from anybody.

Castiel ordered the same thing he had had last time, which was just a regular cheeseburger. After only a moment’s hesitation, Dean ended up ordering the bacon burger but without the onion rings. Thankfully, Castiel didn’t seem to notice how Krissy looked between them and said, “Good choice!” to Dean when he asked her to skip them.

They used the time while they waited for the food to get to know one another better, filling each other in on their day and stories from their childhood. It was comfortable, easy and relaxing. Dean had gone on few dates before, but they had all felt awkward and forced. This one just felt right. He and Castiel just clicked and there weren’t any awkward silence that needed to be filled.

After eating one of the best burgers Dean had ever tasted, not that he was ever going to admit that to Ellen or his mom, Dean asked Castiel if he wanted to try out the pool table in the back. Dean had grown up playing pool at the Roadhouse with his friends so he was pretty good, if he said so himself. After learning that Castiel had never played pool before, Dean took it as his personal mission to teach him everything he knew. The fact that he got to stand really close to Castiel didn’t factor into that decision at all. Dean was a gentleman, afterall!

It was a good thing that Dean Winchester was not known for being a quitter, because there was only one word that could describe Castiel at pool; that word was ‘terrible.’ God knows Castiel tried his best, but no matter how much he tried, he could not get a single ball in a hole without Dean’s help. Not that Dean was complaining. In fact, Dean loved everything about Castiel playing pool.

He loved how Castiel would stick his tongue out just a little bit when he was concentrating. How his expression changed to one of pure fury, looking like he wanted to smite the balls when they didn’t go where he wanted. How good he looked when he was bending over the table to get a better angle. How happy he got when he thought the ball was going into a hole, only to get a sad puppy look when it didn’t. And again, how good he looked when he was bending over the table.

He and Castiel stayed at the restaurant till closing and then the two of them drove around town for rest of the evening. Dean showed Castiel all the best places in town and told him about some of the shenanigans he and his friends had been up to in some of the places. In return, Castiel showed Dean where he lived which was in a big, nice looking house. Neither of the boys commented on the fact that they could see the Winchester house from there.

It was well after midnight when Dean pulled the Impala into the driveway in front of his house. Since Castiel had left his car at Dean’s place, he went with Dean to pick it up instead of Dean leaving him at his house. The two of them sat there for awhile, talking, neither of them wanting the date to end. Castiel’s hand felt perfect resting in his own.

When Dean got into bed that evening, he couldn’t for the life of him remember who initiated the kiss he and Castiel shared before they went their separate ways. All Dean knew was that one, from now on kissing Cas is his absolute favorite thing to do, and two, that it most likely was him that pressed the car horn in order to get closer to Castiel, managing to wake up half the street in the progress, including his mom.

 

 

 

\- Supernatural -

 

On Sunday evening, the whole gang got together in Benny’s room as planned to watch the Walking Dead episode. After the episode, they started playing a car-racing game. Right now, Ash was sitting backwards on Benny’s deckchair, Dean and Jo were lying at the end of Benny’s bed, and Benny and Charlie were lying on the floor in what Dean would call a race to the death, just from how competitive the two of them were.

“Cas knows you bat for the same team, right?” asked Ash all of the sudden.

Since Dean still hadn’t told his friends about his date with Castiel, he said, “Yeah, and he didn’t even freak when he found out. Unlike some people.” He finished his thought by looking at Benny.

“Hey, I said I was sorry! You just ‘came out’ out of the blue! How was I supposed to react?” asked Benny turning around to look at Dean before quickly turning his attention back to the game when he realized Charlie had pulled ahead.

“Out of the blue, my ass,” muttered Jo, rolling her eyes.

“You were the only one that hadn’t figured it out. I’d always figured Ash would be the last one,” said Charlie with her tongue sticking out in concentration. “It was kind of funny, when you think about it.”

“It wasn’t funny at all. I had just found out my best friend liked guys! I was allowed to freak out a little bit, since I don’t know, _I’m a guy_.” Benny rolled his eyes but nudged Dean’s leg, letting him know he was half-joking.

“Yeah, a little bit. But not for two days! Dean was going out of his mind with worry that he had lost you forever. I’m pretty sure he was about to ram himself back into the closet, just for you,” answered Charlie with an intensity that made Dean raise his eyebrows. He opened his mouth to calm the situation before Charlie really went off on Benny, they’d gotten past it and were in a good place now, no need to bring up the past. But Jo spoke first.

“That would have been so funny if Dean had gone back into the closet and Benny had come out at the same time, like he tried to!”

“What?” and “He tried to do what?” sounded all over the room at the same time Benny said, “Shut up, Jo!”

“Wait! You never told them? How am I the only one that knows?” asked Jo, eyes wide.

“Because you were the only one that caught me in the act and I thought we agreed to never speak of it again!” answered Benny, who to Dean’s amazement was actually blushing.

“Okay, spill, now!” said Charlie, who had totally forgotten the game she had been playing against Benny and her half of the screen now had a big Game Over across it.

Biting her lip, Jo looked over to Benny, silently asking for permission. After a short time Benny let out a long breath before saying, “Fine, go ahead. They are never going to give up asking so lets just get it over with.”

Jo waited another moment, contemplating Benny’s expression, before launching into the story. “Benny only freaked out about Dean being gay for like half a day. Then he started freaking out about what he should do when Dean would eventually fall madly in love with him, because in his mind, that was bound to happen eventually.”

Dean was glad Benny couldn’t see the look he and Charlie shared. Charlie was one of the few people that knew about the crush Dean used to have on Benny back then.

“I was twelve, give me a break! Besides, you’ve seen what this town has to offer. You and Dean don’t exactly have many good guys to choose from.” Benny shrugged, looking away from Jo and then addressing the entire group. “I mean, there is no wonder Charlie is gay.”

“Are you sure you’re not gay, Benny? I mean you seem to have put a lot of thought into the boys of this town,” asked Ash before getting a pillow in the face from his friend. “Pillow fight? Really? That’s your defense?”

“Guys, give him a break. It was a hard, confusing time for him,” said Jo.

“Why am I friends with you guys?” Benny asked himself out loud.

“Because I am awesome!” said Dean immediately, only to get a huff from Benny in return.

“Because I know how to fix your computer?” Ash half asked only to get a “You mean, you know how to use it, unlike Benny,” from Dean.

Benny didn’t really disagree with Jo’s “Because I am hot!” statement, even though they all knew that was far from being the reason for their friendship.

“Because I help you with your homework,” answered Charlie last. “Plus, I own all of the good tv-shows.”

“Hey, do you want to hear the rest of this story or not?” asked Jo.

After getting “Hell yes!” from everybody except Benny, who just grunted before restarting the game he and Charlie were playing and taking the lead for the first time that day, Jo continued.

“So, I went over to Benny’s house to try to kick some sense into him after he’d ignored Dean for almost two days. When I got there, his mom just told me that he was in his room and I could just go right in. When I opened the door, the first thing I see is wide-eyed Benny reading Texas Hunky-something…”

“Hunky Texans, it’s the male version of Sexy Asian Beauty,” Benny corrected, his entire body moving with the controller as he went around a turn in the game. “It was either that or Balls of Steel or something.”

“You were looking at gay porn _for_ Dean?” asked Charlie.

“Well, I wasn’t going to go look for it on the internet. Looking at that magazine was traumatizing enough!”

“I don’t think I have ever seen him more freaked out in my life,” said Jo laughing.

Ash looked deep in thought before he said, “I still don’t get why you were looking at gay porn.”

“Well,” Benny shrugged, ears just as red as his cheeks, “I figured since Dean and I had always done everything together, now that Dean was gay, I would have to get used to all the gay stuff. I mean, especially if I was going to have to be gay with him.” Benny cleared his throat and shrugged. “I think it was just temporary insanity. No big deal!”

With a “You were gonna be gay for me?!” Dean jumped on top of Benny and whispered in his ear, “Do you still have it?”

With a laugh, Benny pointed to his closet and said, “I threw it under the closet when I noticed Jo, it should still be there. It’s all yours brother if you can get it. Back then, I thought about trying to get it and give it to you as a “welcome out” present, but it didn’t seem right so I didn’t bother trying to get it.”

Dean, who was now lying on the floor trying to get the magazine with the help of Jo and two pens, turned his head to look back at Benny. “So you gave me a condom and a banana instead?”

“Hey! You said that was the best banana you ever had!”

“Best ban- What the hell did you do with that banana?” asked Charlie with her eyes wide open and a wicked smile on her lips.

“I ate it! Get your mind out of the gutter.” He gave Charlie a pointed look before turning back to the closet. “Aha, got you!” yelled Dean as he pulled the magazine far enough out so he could pick it up. “Hello, sexy!”

Jumping back onto the bed, Dean got comfortable resting against the headboard. He’d hardly gotten the chance to flip through the first pages and admire the view when both the girls demanded that he share. Why Charlie wanted to see some pictures of _half_ naked men so much was beyond Dean. And he was not going to ask since he wasn’t sure he wanted to know the answer. With a little maneuvering, he ended on his stomach in the center of the floor with the girls on either side of him and the magazine open in front of them.

“That does not look comfortable! Can guys really do that?” asked Ash looking at the page Dean was on, upside down from where he was sitting. The position in question didn’t look _that_ difficult from Dean’s perspective and he was 90% sure that he and Castiel could pull it off. He just needed to find the courage to ask Castiel to try it with him.

It was easy for Dean to decide which one of the pictures was his favorite. In the middle of the magazine was ‘Misha the Pizza Guy’, who just happened to look a lot like Castiel. They both had blue eyes, dark short hair, and were very, _very_ well built. Even though the guy was really, really hot, Dean couldn’t help but think about the photo of Castiel in the pizza delivery outfit.

 

 

 

\- Supernatural -

 

A few days later, Dean and Castiel somehow found themselves locked alone in Charlie’s room. They had come over to hang out with her and Jo for a few hours and the next thing they knew, Charlie and Jo left the room to get some snacks and locked the door behind them.

“We have had enough of all the sexual tension between you two. This door is going to stay closed for the next hour or until you two get together!” called Charlie through the now locked door to her room.

“Did they just lock us in here?” asked Castiel. “Should we tell them that we have been together for days?”

“No, I’m just surprised they haven’t figured it out yet,” said Dean. “We should pretend to get really mad at each other or something?”

“Or we could do it on her bed?” suggested Cas as he walked over to Charlie’s bed. To say that Dean was at a loss for words was an understatement. His innocent little angel wasn’t so innocent after all.

“Who are you and what have you done with my boyfriend?” joked Dean as he joined Castiel on the bed.

“It’s me, I promise,” said Castiel before reaching over and kissing Dean lightly on the lips. “I have wanted to do that all day. Remind me, why haven’t we told your friends about us again?”

“I just wanted to enjoy this for a little while before everyone starts asking questions. You know Charlie and Jo are going to give us the third degree, about how it happened, if we’ve gone on any dates, when our first kiss was, all of that when they find out, right?”

“Yeah, I know. So what do you wanna do for the next hour or so? We have our schoolbags, so we could finish our homew-- I just got an idea how we can fool the girls,” said Castiel before whispering his idea to Dean.

“Again, who are you?” said Dean with the biggest smile on his face.

When Charlie and Jo came back to check on the boys, they pressed their ears to the door and tried to hear what was going on on the other side.

They heard an out of breath Dean said, “Ohh, god Castiel, this is so good!” through the door. “More! I need more.”

“Wait! You have some on your face, here let me get it for you,” came Cas raspy voice a few seconds later. “You sure you want some more? Because I think I have some more for you.”

Charlie slowly put one of her hand on the door handle and her other one on the lock before she looked over to Jo, silently asking if she should open the door. After getting approval from Jo, Charlie unlocked the door before pushing it open.

The scene that greeted them didn’t really surprise them but was shocking all the same. There Dean was sitting, shirtless, on her bed with something white leaking down from his mouth and Castiel in the middle of trying to clean it up with his fingers.

“Oh my god! Did you just-- on my bed?” asked Charlie.

“I’m so sorry! Dean said it was okay,” said Castiel trying to hold a straight face even though Dean was laughing hysterically on the bed next to him. “Of course you don’t want us eating yogurt on your bed.”

“So you were just… Fine, we will just come back later. Come on Jo,” said Charlie and turned around to close the door again.

“We are already dating!” called Dean after them, which caused Charlie to turn around on the spot. “Plus, we could have just gone out the window like I use to do when we were younger.”

“You’re what? How? _When_? Why didn’t I know about it?” asked Charlie without giving them any time to answer as she sat down next to Dean. “I want to know everything!”

Jo trailed after her, a lot calmer than Charlie. “Finally, Charlie has been driving me crazy with plan D.E.S.T.I.E.L.”

“Plan what?” asked Dean and Castiel at the same time.

Charlie hit Dean hard in the shoulder before she said, “Never mind that. Why didn’t you tell me you had a boyfriend?”

“Because I didn’t want you two to make a big deal out of it,” answered Dean.

“A big deal, when have I ever made a big deal out of anything?” asked Charlie shocked.

The three other shared a looked before Jo cleared her throat and said, “I hate to be the one to tell you this, but Dean is right, sorry.”

“Fine, maybe I do. Now the two of you shut up,” said Charlie looking at Dean and Jo before turning her attention to Castiel. “Tell me everything!”

“Why does he get to tell it?” asked Dean, mildly offended.

“Because you have the tendency to skip the most interesting parts. Now, shush!” ordered Charlie.

The girls got the whole story from Castiel with few details from Dean. For an example, they got to hear _everything_ about how awesome Castiel had been to get Dean the Impala for the night. The only thing Dean left out was how hard it was to return it to Bobby’s the day after.

As Dean, Castiel, and Jo were getting ready to head home for the night, Charlie pulled Dean to the side and asked, “Does Sam know about the two of you? Because he’s not gonna like it.”

“No, he doesn’t know yet,” answered Dean. "Castiel and I talked about it last night. We don’t want him to hear about it from someone else, so Castiel going to tell Sam about us after school tomorrow. I just have to hope Sam doesn’t kill me after he finds out.”

Even though Dean had only been half joking when he said that, he had not expected Charlie to look so worried. He quickly told her not to worry about Sam before going back over to Castiel and Jo who were ready and just waiting for him.

 

 

 

\- Supernatural -

 

Not five minutes after her friends left, Charlie’s felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. When she looked at it, she found one new message from “Moose”. She wasn’t sure why she had picked that name for Sam, she just didn’t want Dean to accidentally see that she was talking to his brother and the name just seemed to fit Sam for some reason.

  

> **From: Moose**  
>  I just had a great idea for our essay. We’re still on for lunch tomorrow right?

 

Charlie closed her eyes and took a deep breath, before replying.

  

> **To: Moose**  
>  Yes. See you then.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed the chapter.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm terribly sorry for the long wait! I want to say it will never happen again, but I would probably be lying.
> 
> Thanks to everyone that has left kudos or comments, it's always fun to see what you guys think.  
> And like always, a huge round of applause to my two wonderful betas [ Lotrspnfangirl](http://archiveofourown.org/users/lotrspnfangirl/pseuds/lotrspnfangirl) and [Renversermonmonde](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Renversermonmonde/pseuds/Renversermonmonde) ([Trickstermoose67](http://trickstermoose67.tumblr.com) over at Tumblr) it would never be as good without them.

#  **Chapter 10**

The next month and a half went by quickly. As Castiel and Dean grew closer, Sam and his friends continued to leave Dean alone. That was until the day after Sam found out about Dean and Cas’ relationship... but that had been expected.

For once, life was good for Dean. Of course, all good things must come to an end; without fail, it all came crashing down.

Standing in front of his locker, Dean was busy emptying his bag from the books he was done with, and replacing the new ones he’d need for the next few classes. His school bag was really a mess right now and Dean wondered what he would have to do to get Charlie to organize it for him again. The last time she did it for him, Dean had fucked it up again in record time, and needless to say, Charlie had not been happy. In fact, she said she would _never_ do it for him again; he had to up his bribery this time. To be fair, it wouldn’t be the first time Dean got her to do something she’d swore never to do again.

He cast a quick look to the side, startled as the door on the other end of the hall was slammed open so hard that it rang through the whole hall. It didn’t surprise him to see Sam walk in with Alistair and Lucifer right behind him.

Things between him and Sam had been weird since Sam found out about Dean’s relationship with Castiel. The day after Castiel told Sam, his half-brother cornered Dean after school, telling him in his own not so charming words, that ‘as far as Castiel would ever know he was going to be a good friend and not make a big deal out of this... but Dean should _enjoy_ his relationship with Castiel while it lasted’. Or, better yet, just save Castiel the heartache and call it quits now.

Dean turned back to his locker seconds before he heard Alistair’s almost panicked voice behind him, coming closer and closer, “… you can’t be serious, Sam! He’s going to ruin everything!”

“Oh, shut up and get lost, both of you!” Dean heard Sam say as the bell rang above him. A few minutes later, Dean turned to leave and noticed his brother leaning against a locker a little away from his.

“Hello, _Dean_.”

“What do you want?” Dean rolled his eyes, then shook his head. “Know what, never mind. I’m going to be late for class.”

Before he could walk away, he was suddenly shoved against his locker with Sam inches away from his face.

“Here’s the thing... For _weeks_ I’ve been planning to throw a party this Saturday. It’s a party to celebrate a few things. One of those things is Castiel moving to town, so Castiel needs to be there! But I just found out that _my_ best friend is not coming because he promised to hang out with his _boyfriend_.”

Dean was pretty sure it physically hurt Sam to say that.

“Apparently, the only way to get him to come is if you go too. Castiel wants to be there, I know he does. He just doesn’t want to bail on someone if he’s already made plans. So, _brother_ , you are going to show up! Take your stupid geek squad with you, I don’t care. Just get Cas to come!”

With that, Sam turned around and walked away.

It took Dean a while to wrap his head around what just happened. Sam had just invited him to a party! Of course, it wasn’t because _he_ was wanted there. But a few months ago, Dean never could’ve imagined Sam inviting him anywhere. No matter what!

Dean didn’t buy it for one second that Sam didn’t care whether or not he and his friends showed up. Sam had always made sure Dean knew he wasn’t welcomed at the Winchester’s house and he couldn’t imagine that had changed. What he _did_ believe was that Castiel wanted to be there. The last few times Dean and Cas hung out, Castiel had mentioned he felt bad for excluding Sam lately. As doubtful as Dean was about this being a good idea, he didn’t want to start his relationship out by coming in between his boyfriend and his best friend. No way did he want Castiel to hold that against him.

Dean ran a hand back through his hair and sighed. At least he had a week to decide what the heck to do...

Showing up ten minutes late for class earned him a lecture about punctuality, but thankfully no extra detention. After listening to Mr. Ketch go on and on about the importance of being on time, Dean finally got to go sit down next to Charlie in the back.

“Why are you so late? I was starting to think you were going to leave me to die of boredom all alone,” said Charlie dramatically as Dean drew his stool out from under the table.

“Sam just invited _me_ to his party this Saturday,” said Dean, still in shock. “Or more like demanded I showed up. You're invited too by the way.”

\- Supernatural -

After a lot of debating that school week, Dean came to the conclusion that he should be a good boyfriend and accompany Cas to Sam’s party. The only problem -- scratch that -- _one_ of the problems was that Dean made the big mistake of agreeing to meet up with Castiel and Charlie at the party instead of the trio traveling together. Dean tried to talk the whole gang into showing up with him, but Charlie had been the only one that was free that night. Now he was standing outside Sam’s house, alone, looking like an idiot with Charlie running late and Castiel nowhere in sight. They hadn’t specified _where_ at Sam’s they were going to meet, and it hadn’t occurred to Dean that Castiel was used to hanging out there, so of course he would just go inside instead of waiting outside.

Walking into the Winchester's house felt surreal to Dean; he’d spent countless hours growing up imagining what the inside of the house looked like. Turned out his imagination was spot on in most cases. Everything inside was straight out of a interior magazine: big fireplace, designer chairs, paintings on the walls that cost more than Dean wanted to venture a guess at, and all the newest technology. Even with a party in full swing, Dean could tell that the house was usually kept spotless.

And yet, Dean couldn’t help but notice that there was nothing that showed there was a sixteen year old boy living there. There were certifications on the walls with ‘John Winchester’ or ‘Katie Winchester’ on them, along with magazine covers featuring them separately and even together, but there wasn’t a single photo of or drawing done by Sam.

Dean’s living room was covered in photos of him growing up and his old art projects could be found all over the apartment. His mom had kept every single one of them, even the ugly ones, claiming she wanted to keep them incase he ever became a famous artist in the future. That way she could sell them for millions no matter how ugly he thought they were. She joked she might even be able to sell them for more since a lot of rich people were suckers for “abstract art”.

Dean had been walking around the house for a while, trying to pick out Castiel or Charlie from the crowd, when he heard Alastair say, “Look, Losechester actually decided to show up!”

Before Dean could even open his mouth, Lucifer added, “I can’t believe the fag actually came.”

“Boys, be nice. I invited him after all,” said Sam as he walked up behind them. “Just make sure you don’t touch anything,” Sam spoke in Dean’s direction, dropping his voice so only his friends could hear. “ _My_ dad doesn't want filth on the furniture.”

\- Supernatural -

Charlie had never liked going to big parties like this one. She didn’t really like being surrounded by so many people, at least not as herself. She hadn’t been able to spot Dean or Castiel since she showed up, and it was how she found herself alone standing in Sam’s bedroom. It was a lot quieter in there, even though she could still hear the music playing in the other room. It was strange how comfortable she felt... Lately she’d spent her fair share of time in there working on their essay with Sam.

Back when Sam had first approached her, she never would have imagined spending so much time with him. But the truth was, she was really enjoying it. Sam was extremely intelligent and they had more in common than she would’ve first guessed. Most of the time she’d come over, she stayed longer than she originally planned and they just ended up hanging out; mostly talking about books they were reading, something she never got to do with her friends, where they wanted to go to college. Pretty much everything they could think of.

“We got an A+ for our essay,” came Sam’s voice behind her.

“What? That’s great! How did you find out before me?” asked Charlie as she turned around.

“I met Donn -- Ms. Hanscum when I was leaving school. She was so happy with us, she wants to send it into some national competition, which would look great on our college applications. She just needs our permission.”

“Really? That’s great!” exclaimed Charlie as she made her way over and hugged Sam. “Of course I want to do it.”

“What the hell? _Charlie_?”

Looking behind Sam, Charlie came eye to eye with a shocked Dean Winchester who looked like someone had just ripped out his heart and stomped on it.

“Dean, I can explain!” Charlie scrambled to call out quickly, but it was too late. Dean turned around, flying down the stairs, and was pushing his way through the gathering towards the exit. He stopped long enough to whisper something to Castiel who had just showed up, and the next minute Dean was out the door. Castiel looked after him, even after the door shut, completely confused.

\- Supernatural -

“Have you talked to Charlie yet?” asked Benny as he and Dean walked into the gym the next Monday.

“No, and I’m not going to,” answered Dean immediately. He still couldn’t wrap his head around how his friend could go behind his back like that.

“Maybe you should hear her out,” Benny said with a shrug. “She sounded devastated last night when she called to check if you were with me.”

If the thirty messages that Dean got from her over the rest of the weekend were any indication, she probably was. It didn’t mean that Dean was ready to forgive her anytime soon though. “I don’t care. She can go crying to Sam for all I care.”

“You don’t mean that,” whispered Benny, and he was right. Dean didn’t want Charlie anywhere near Sam. “What happened at that party anyway?”

“Charlie is friends with Sam. Talking about something they’re working on together… I caught them hugging and everything,” said Dean as he sat down in his usual seat. Not in the mood to deal with his brother right now, Dean scanned the room trying to find him so he could avoid him. Thankfully, Sam and his group of cronies were nowhere to be seen.

“Charlie hugged Sam? There is no way that’s true. She _hates_ the guy. How much did you have to drink?” asked Benny as he took the seat next to Dean.

“Zero. You really think I’m gonna let my guard down in enemy's territory?” answered Dean like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “We always feared this would happen. I think we might have lost Charlie to the dark side for good.”

“Really, dude?” asked Benny unimpressed. “What are they working on anyway?”

“Don’t know, don’t care.”

Well, that was a big ass lie if Dean ever told one. For all Dean knew, they were planning something against _him_. Maybe it had something to do with him and Cas… After all, Charlie started acting weird after Dean started hanging out with Castiel. But then, why had Charlie been trying to get them together? None of this made any sense.

Before Dean got the chance to reply, Benny asked, “Dude, is your dad going to give us _the_ talk or something?”

The big screen that was usually used for the school ceremonies now had the word “SEX” in big letters written over it behind John who was busy doing something on the computer next to it. He appeared focused on the screen, muttering something under his breath before he turned towards the class and cleared his throat to get everyone's attention.

“Believe me, I don’t want to be the one to do this. However, Principal Crowley asked me to. Besides, you only have yourself to blame. Or at least Balthazar and Meg do. Getting caught doing it in a classroom, what were you thinking?”

From the look on Balthazar and Meg’s faces, they didn’t regret it one bit.

“Since Crowley doesn’t want a school full of pregnant girls, and most of you are sleeping with someone, you need _the talk_ ,” said John as he walked back and forth in front of the class.

“First? He’s _not_ my dad, he’s just the sperm donor. Second, who is _he_ to talk to us about unprotected sex?” Dean hissed at Benny with a horrified look on his face.

“You don’t want to end up with a kid at your age, trust me.” John spoke the words straight at Dean, their eyes locking once, and it didn’t surprise Dean when he saw most of the class look in his direction. Some had expressions of pity, all knowing of Dean’s father’s hatred to him, but it was mostly disparaging, like it was all _his_ fault.

The funny thing was, Dean was sure nobody would be looking at Sam that way if he was here instead, even though John had only been a few months older when he had his second child.

“As most of you know, I was young and stupid once. I went down the same road you are all heading down now. When I was around your age, I had a --”

Dean had just about enough of the Winchesters, and the last thing he wanted was to see where John was going with this. Dean was willing to bet everything he owned that John would end up saying that not terminating the pregnancy had ruined Mary’s chances of a good life, would make it clear in front of his entire class what a waste and a mistake he thought his oldest son was. Dean knew that it had never been Mary’s plan to get pregnant, but she had made sure to tell him again and again that she never regretted having him. That didn’t stop people, Dean included, from thinking that Mary would have been happier if she’d been able to enjoy her life a little bit longer before she had a child.

In all honesty, Dean didn’t blame John for leaving; he was young and had his whole life ahead of him. In Dean’s opinion, leaving was one of the few good decisions John has ever made. The only thing Dean hated was that his mom had been left alone to deal with the fall out.

The worst thing John did was come back. Dean would’ve been perfectly happy growing up and resenting an absent father, angry at a stranger for leaving his mom and him. But, instead of resenting him, Dean hated him with every fiber of his body. In returning, Dean was forced to watch him and Sam live the perfect life right in front of him while he and his mom were struggling.

What was worse than that was seeing his mom watch the man she loved, because she _had _been madly in love with John, being happy with another family when it should’ve been her.__

____

____

Dean could remember it perfectly when he was younger and Mary had taken him to the park to play. They didn’t stay as long as they were used to because John had been there with his wife and Sam. Later that night, after he had gone to bed, Dean had heard his mom crying in the next room. He remembered going to her bed, climbing in her lap, and brushing the tears away just like she did every time he cried, then hugging her until they both fell asleep.

A part of Dean couldn’t help but think that the class need to hear about the dangers of unprotected sex in order to save some poor kid from growing up like he did, but John was not the right person for the job. It also did not mean that he had to sit there and listen to John talk about how Dean being born was the worst thing that ever happened to him and Mary.

He wonder if he should stay and try to stick up for his mom, but he figured it wouldn’t help either of them if he made a scene in front of the whole class.

“Screw this!” With that, Dean stood up and told his friend that he was leaving. Unfortunately, John noticed him when he was just about to reach the door.

“Sit your ass down, NOW! That’s an order! Dean!”

Ignoring him, Dean continued out of the classroom. But of course, John caught up with him when he was just about to reach the parking lot.

“Where do you think you’re going?” yelled John after him.

Turning back to face him, Dean yelled back, “Home. I don’t need to listen to a guy who doesn’t know how to use a condom, telling me how to not get my boyfriend pregnant.”

_‘Shit I did not mean to say that! Thank God Cas isn’t here,’_ thought Dean as he watched John grasp what he’d just let slip.

“Your what? No son of mine is going to be a fuck--”

“Good, because I’m _not_ your son! At least that what you and Sam keep telling me!” Dean spun around, giving John his back, and walked away. Thankfully this time, John didn’t follow.

Dean did not want to go home and explain to his mom why he wasn’t at school, so he went to second place where he felt at home: Bobby’s backyard. More precisely, to his baby. He snuck into Bobby’s office and snagged the keys to the Impala, knowing Bobby wouldn’t be too upset as long as he didn’t take her off the property. He climbed into the front set, turning on the power, and shoved his favorite Led Zeppelin tape into the tape deck.

“Hey, Baby. Miss me?” asked Dean as he got comfortable in the driver's seat, even though he knew he wouldn’t get an answer. Some people talk to their pets, he just talked to his car instead. He knew he shouldn’t have run out of class and it was without a doubt going to bite him in the ass later. He just couldn’t take it anymore and needed to get as far away from his father and brother as he possibly could... which isn’t very far when you don’t have a car.

He hadn’t realized that he had dozed off until the opening of the passenger door woke him up.

“You can’t promise to talk at school and than ditch half the day before you have the chance to talk to me,” said Castiel as he sat down next to him.

‘Shit,’ thought Dean. With everything going on, he’d totally forgot that he promised Castiel as he left the party to explain why he’d taken off. “I’m so sorry, Cas. I forgot. I just had to get out of there.”

“It’s okay, Benny and Jo filled me in on what was going on.” Castiel gave him a reassuring smile. “Just so you know, Ash is a little mad that he is always the last to find out about everything,” he added to try to lighten Dean’s mood.

“That’s a lie. It’s scary how he seems to know about everything that is going on sometimes,” said Dean, thankful that Castiel was trying to cheer him up. He still felt that he owed Castiel an apology, “I really am sorry, for Saturday night and then not meeting you at school. Did Benny and Jo fill you in on everything?”

“Yeah, but they didn’t really have to. News travel fast.” Castiel paused and then asked, “Did you really tell John about us?”

_‘Damn.’_ He’d been hoping that had been a dream, or a nightmare’s more like it. “No, I might have let it slip that I have a boyfriend... but I didn’t tell him that it was you.”

“Yeah, but according to Benny, it didn’t take John long to get Sam and his friends to tell him who it was,” explained Castiel. “Look on the bright side, thanks to you, John let everyone go right after he came back! The class didn’t need to sit through _the talk_. You’re a hero.”

“Yeah, I bet that’s what everyone is saying about me,” said Dean sarcastically before he remembered something. “Wait, what are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be in school?”

“Dean, school ended over an hour ago,” Castiel said softly, like he was talking to a small child who was still half asleep. Which Dean was. Half asleep, that is. Dean was far from being a child. Or small, thank you very much! It didn’t matter that his so-called brother happened to be freakishly tall.

If school ended an hour ago then he must have slept longer than he thought. Which meant he was late getting home. _Great_. There went Dean’s hope of trying to keep this from his mom. Not that he ever stood a chance, his mom was a master of knowing when Dean was keeping things from her.

“How did you know where I was?” asked Dean.

Castiel didn’t say anything for awhile, just sat there and watched Dean. Dean was just about to ask again when Castiel answered, “Charlie told me where I might find you. Luckily for me, this was my first stop. Have you talk to her since last night?”

“Look Cas, I know it might be difficult for you to understand... Sam is your best friend, but we’ve hated each other for years. He and his friends used to torment me growing up and because the gang were my friends, Sam would pick on them too. The fact that Charlie seems to have forgiven him for all of that is just…” Dean really didn’t know how to finish that sentence, all he knew was that he felt betrayed by Charlie right now. “She’s one of my best friends and he is like my arch enemy. He’s like Magneto to my Professor X.” Noticing the confused look on Castiel face, Dean decided to find another comparison that his boyfriend might recognize. “He is the Lex Luthor to my Clark?” If anything, Castiel just looked more confused. “The Joker to my Batman?”

Suddenly, Castiel cracked a smile and chuckled loudly as the exasperated look on Dean’s face. “Dean, I’m just kidding! I live in the same house as Gabriel. He lives for some of this stuff, though he seems to favor the villain most of the time, so I know more about them then the “good” guy. I know what you’re talking about, don’t worry.”

Castiel paused and scooted down in the bench seat, leaning his head back and turning to keep eye contact with Dean. “And I get it, you’re hurt and angry and you need time. Just... do me a favor and try to not let it ruin a years long friendship?”

Dean nodded slowly, slouching down slowly to match Castiel’s position.

“It’s getting late and it’s kind of cold out here. What do you say about going to your mom’s shop and getting something to warm us up?” suggested Castiel. “Wait, have you eaten anything today? If I know you correctly you must be starving by now.”

At that moment, Dean’s stomach decided to do all the talking for him and answered Castiel loud and clear. With a sheepish smile, Dean took the key out of the ignition before turning back towards Castiel. “I just need to sneak these back inside. Meet you at your car?”

\- Supernatural -

“Next time you decide to skip school, can you at least let me know where the hell you’re going so I don’t have to worry?” demanded Mary the second she saw Dean walk through the door of the coffee shop with Castiel behind him. Thankfully, the shop was mostly empty because Dean was pretty sure his mom would have yelled at him even _if_ the shop had been stuffed to the door, business be damned.

“Sorry, mom!” Dean apologized sheepishly as they made their way up to the counter. Dean could count on one hand how often he had seen his mom angry, and none of those times had it been directed at him.

“Sorry? That’s all you are going to say? Do you have any idea how worried I was when Crowley called and told me that you had just ditched school without any reason?”

“Without any reason? That’s bulls--”

“Well, I didn’t know that until John called yelling at me for ‘screwing you up’,” Mary interrupted him and Dean started to realize that maybe she wasn’t just angry at him. After all, if anyone could get under Mary’s skin it was John.

As far as Dean knew, his parents hadn’t talked since they broke up. Whenever they saw each other, one of them, usually John, would take off in the other direction. “He… he actually called you?” asked Dean, shocked.

“Yup!” said Mary, who, to Dean’s relief, had calmed down some. “And after I was able to puzzle together what happened, I told him to go screw himself and hung up. Then I called your school and told them what happened.”

“And what did they say?” asked Dean, he knew better then be hopeful that he wasn't in trouble.

“You get one day off from school, of course that’s not what they called it, but who cares,” said Mary, “But don’t think for a second you are of the hook. If Bobby hadn’t called me, I would be out of my mind with worry!”

“I wasn’t thinking. I’m sorry!” said Dean as he gave her a hug over the counter.

“Just don’t ever do it again,” Mary whispered into his hair, taking a moment to collect herself before turning towards Castiel. Both boys pointedly ignored the tears shining in her eyes. “Sorry about that, what can I get you and your idiot of a boyfriend?”

Ignoring the “Hey, I resent that!” from Dean, Mary cast a look over to her son before adding, “And he’s not getting the last pie. He’s in trouble for skipping.”

Castiel gave Mary his best smile and said, “Oh, no worries, I completely understand. In fact, I was thinking I needed to teach him a lesson and what better way than to have him watch me eat pie when he doesn’t get any?”

“You’re evil, both of you!” said Dean after his mom started laughing and telling Castiel how much she liked that idea.

When Mary turned around to put their order together, Castiel put his arms around Dean and whispered in his ear so Mary wouldn’t hear, “I don’t even like pie, remember?”

After shaking his head of the absurd idea that someone could not like pie, Dean whispered back, “Then why did you order it?”

“So you would get your pie. I just want your mom to like me,” replied Castiel earnestly, but so low that Dean nearly missed it.

Dean couldn’t help but laugh at his boyfriend’s absurd thinking, “So you tell her that you are going to torture me? Good going, Cas.”

“She seems to like the idea,” said Castiel with a little frown on his face, “But don’t worry, I will only use positive reinforcement in the future.”

“My mom adores you and I might like you just a little bit too,” said Dean before giving Castiel a kiss.

If the clearing of the throat in front of them was any indication, Dean might have forgotten himself a little bit when Castiel returned the favor. “Sorry, Mom.” Wasting no time, Dean quickly grabbed the tray his mom had made for them in one hand and took Castiel’s hand in the other, starting to drag him away.

“Besides, we all know that nothing is going to stand in your way of getting that pie,” said Castiel before giving Dean another kiss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed the chapter and like always I would love to hear what you guys think!


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